Chapter published in:
The Diachrony of Classification Systems
Edited by William B. McGregor and Søren Wichmann
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 342] 2018
► pp. 165–200

The diachrony of Oceanic possessive classifiers

With just a small number of exceptions, Oceanic languages have multiple types of attributive possessive constructions that involve a more or less elaborate system of possessive classifiers. Constructions with possessive classifiers usually serve to express alienable possession. A different construction type, one that does not involve possessive classifiers, is typically used to express inalienable possession. Proto-Oceanic had three possessive classifiers. In some present-day languages the original system of classifiers has been expanded considerably, while in some others it has been reduced or eliminated altogether. In some languages possessive classifiers exist alongside numeral classifiers, but the two systems operate on different principles. The paper investigates the system of possessive constructions in Proto-Oceanic, its emergence and its subsequent developments. It also critically assesses the claim that the Oceanic system with different constructions to express alienable and inalienable possession is the result of contact with Papuan (non-Austronesian) languages.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The typical Oceanic pattern of attributive possessive constructions
  • 3.The diachrony of the possessive classifiers systems within Oceanic
    • 3.1The Proto-Oceanic possessive system
    • 3.2Reductions and expansions in Oceanic possessive systems
    • 3.3The Polynesian pattern
    • 3.4Possessive constructions in Oceanic: A brief summary
  • 4.Multiple possessive constructions in non-Oceanic Austronesian languages
  • 5.Multiple possessive constructions in Papuan languages
  • 6.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 May 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.342.07lic
References
Benton, Richard A.
1968 “Numeral and Attributive Classifiers in Trukese”. Oceanic Linguistics 7.104–146. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blust, Robert A.
1977 “A Rediscovered Austronesian Comparative Paradigm”. Oceanic Linguistics 16.1–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1983/1984 “More on the Position of the Languages of Eastern Indonesia”. Oceanic Linguistics 22/23.1–28.Google Scholar
2005 “Review of The Oceanic Languages by John Lynch, Malcom Ross and Terry Crowley”. Oceanic Linguistics 44.544–558. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 The Austronesian Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Brownie, John & Marjo Brownie
2007 Mussau Grammar Essentials. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: SIL-PNG Academic Publications.Google Scholar
Buse, Jasper (with Raututi Taringa
) 1996 Cook Islands Maori Dictionary with English-Cook Islands Maori Finderlist, ed. by Bruce Biggs & Rangi Moeka‘a.Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Clark, Ross
2000 “Possessive Markers in Polynesian Languages”. Possessive Markers in Central Pacific Languages. Special issue of Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Language Typology and Universals ed. by Steven R. Fischer, 258–268.Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry
1985 “Common Noun Phrase Marking in Proto-Oceanic”. Oceanic Linguistics 24.135–193. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2002 “Southeast Ambrym”. The Oceanic Languages ed. by John Lynch, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley, 660–670. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Donohue, Mark
2002 “Tobati”. The Oceanic Languages ed. by John Lynch, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley, 186–203. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Donohue, Mark & Antoinette Schapper
2008 “Whence the Austronesian Indirect Possession Construction?” Oceanic Linguistics 47.316–327. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Steven R.
ed. 2000 Possessive Markers in Central Pacific Languages. Special issue of Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Language Typology and Universals.Google Scholar
François, Alexander
2002 Araki: A disappearing language of Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H.
1978 “How Does a Language Acquire Gender Markers?” Universals of Human Language, Vol. III: Word structure ed. by Joseph H. Greenberg, Charles A. Ferguson & Edith Moravcsik, 47–82. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hunley, Keith, Michael Dunn, Eva Lindström, Ger Reesink, Angella Terrill, Meghan E. Healy, George Koki, Françoise R. Friedlaender & Jonathan S. Friedlaender
2008 “Genetic and Linguistic Coevolution in Northern Island Melanesia”. PLoS Genetics 4(10).e1000239. doi:Crossref.Google Scholar
Hyslop, Catriona
2001 The Lolovoli Dialect of the North-East Ambae Language, Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Jauncey, Dorothy
2002 “Tamabo”. The Oceanic Languages ed. by John Lynch, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley, 608–625. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Klamer, Marian, Ger Reesink & Miriam van Staden
2008 “East Nusantara as a Linguistic Area”. From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics ed. by Pieter Muysken, 95–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
La Fontinelle, Jacqueline de
1976 La langue de Houaïlou (Nouvelle-Calédonie): Description phonologique et description syntaxique. Paris: Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France.Google Scholar
Laidig, Wyn D.
1993 “Insights from Larike Possessive Constructions”. Oceanic Linguistics 32.311–351. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Kee-dong (with Lyndon Cornelius & Elmer Asher
) 1975 Kusaiean Reference Grammar. Honolulu: University Press of Hawai‘i.Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek
1983a A Grammar of Manam. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek.
1983b “Relational Classifiers”. Lingua 60.147–176. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1985 “Possessive Constructions in Oceanic Languages and in Proto-Oceanic”. Austronesian Linguistics at the 15th Pacific Science Congress ed.by Andrew Pawley & Lois Carrington, 93–140. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek
2008 A Grammar of Toqabaqita. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009a “Oceanic Possessive Classifiers”. Oceanic Linguistics 48.379–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009b “Attributive Possessive Constructions in Oceanic”. The Expression of Possession ed. by William B. McGregor, 249–292. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2013 “The Rise and Demise of Possessive Classifiers in Austronesian”. Historical Linguistics 2011: Selected papers from the 20th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Osaka, 25–30 July 2011 ed. by Ritsuko Kikusawa & Lawrence A. Reid, 199–225. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Lichtenberk, Frantisek, Jyotsna Vaid & Hsin-Chin Chen
2011 “On the Interpretation of Alienable vs. Inalienable Possession: A psycholinguistic investigation”. Cognitive Linguistics 22.659–689. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lum, J. Koji & Rebecca L. Cann
1998 “mtDNA and Language Support a Common Origin of Micronesians and Polynesians in Island Southeast Asia”. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 105.109–119. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lum, J. Koji, Lynn B. Jorde & Wulf Schiefenhovel
2002 “Affinities among Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians: A neutral, biparental genetic perspective”. Human Biology 74.413–430. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, John
1973 “Verbal Aspects of Possession in Melanesian Languages”. Oceanic Linguistics 12.69–102. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2000a A Grammar of Anejom̃. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2000b “Historical Overview of Central Pacific Possessive Markers”. Possessive Markers in Central Pacific Languages. Special issue of Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Language Typology and Universals ed. by Steven R. Fischer, 233–242.Google Scholar
2001 “Passive and Food Possession in Oceanic Languages”. The Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton ed. by Andrew Pawley, Malcolm Ross & Darrell Tryon, 193–214. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lynch, John, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley
2002 The Oceanic Languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Milner, George B.
1972 Fijian Grammar (3rd edn.). Suva: Government Press.Google Scholar
Mulder de, Walter & Anne Carlier
2011 The Grammaticalization of Definite Articles. The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization ed. by Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine, 522–534. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Osmond, Meredith
1998 “Horticultural practices”. The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic: The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society, Vol. I: Material cultureed. by Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley & Meredith Osmond, 115–142. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Ozanne-Rivierre, Françoise
1976 Le iaai: Langue mélanésienne d’Ouvéa (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Phonologie, morphologie, esquisse syntaxique. Paris: Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France.Google Scholar
Palmer, Bill & Dunstan Brown
2007 “Heads in Oceanic Indirect Possession”. Oceanic Linguistics 46.199–209. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pawley, Andrew
1973 “Some Problems in Proto-Oceanic Grammar”. Oceanic Linguistics 12.103–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 “The Meaning(s) of Proto Oceanic *panua”. A Polymath Anthropologist: Essays in honour of Ann Chowning ed. by Claudia Gross, Harriet D. Lyons & Dorothy A. Counts, 211–223 (= Research in Anthropology and Linguistics, 6). Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland.Google Scholar
2007 “The Origins of Early Lapita Culture: The testimony of historical linguistics”. Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and western Pacific settlement ed. by Stuart Bedford, Christophe Sand & Sean P. Connaughton, 17–49. Canberra: ANU ePress.Google Scholar
Pawley, Andrew & Timoci Sayaba
1990 “Possessive-Marking in Wayan, a Western Fijian Language: Noun class or relational system?” Pacific Island Languages: Essays in Honour of G. B. Milner ed. by Jeremy H. C. S. Davidson, 147–171. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; and Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Rehg, Kenneth L. (with Damian G. Sohl
) 1981 Ponapean Reference Grammar. Honolulu: University Press of Hawai‘i.Google Scholar
Ross, Malcolm
2002 “Mussau”. The Oceanic Languages ed. by John Lynch, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley, 148–166. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
2007 “Calquing and Metatypy”. Journal of Language Contact – THEMA 1.116–143. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Malcolm, Andrew Pawley & Meredith Osmond
eds 2011 The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic: The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society, Vol. IV: Animals. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Sakel, Jeanette
2007 “Types of Loan: Matter and pattern”. Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-linguistic Perspective ed. by Yaron Matras & Jeanette Sakel, 15–29. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Schütz, Albert J.
1985 The Fijian Language. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Sohn, Ho-min & Bryon W. Bender
1973 A Ulithian Grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah Grey & Terrence Kaufman
1988 Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
van den Berg, René
2009 “Possession in South Halmahera–West New Guinea: Typology and reconstruction”. Austronesian Historical Linguistics and Culture History: A Festschrift for Robert Blust ed. by Alexander Adelaar & Andrew Pawley, 327–357. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Williams, Herbert W.
1971 A Dictionary of the Maori Language (7th edn., revised and augmented by the Advisory Committee on the Teaching of the Maori Language, Department of Education). Wellington: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Wilson, William H.
1982 Proto-Polynesian Possessive Marking. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar