Abstract

The goal of this study is to confirm Eurasia as an independent linguistic area with respect to four features of possessive morphology: locus of marking, position of pronominal possessive affixes, obligatory possessive inflection, and possessive classification. Raw data on these features was taken from the WALS database and then run through an algorithm of genealogical stratification called g-sampling, in order to minimize the bias of the sample. The resulting g-units were then categorized by type and geographical area (New World vs. Old World, Eurasia vs. the rest of the world). These counts were tested for significance using Fisher's exact test. Two features, locus of marking and possessive classification, were confirmed to be significantly different in Eurasia; the other two features were not significantly different. Possible reasons for these areal patterns-primarily structural reasons-are briefly discussed.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Linguistics and English Language

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/