Detail #423: Reflexive Possession as an Auxiliary

Reflexive possession is expressed in a few different ways in languages. I am not aware of any language like this from before:

I throw ball => I throw a/the ball

I AUX throw ball => I throw my ball

For direct objects and indirect objects and other complements of the verb, the auxiliary is directly in control of some infinitive form, potentially a participle.

1. Etymology of the auxiliary

There are a few natural ways such an auxiliary could arise. Lexemes associated with the following meanings make sense to develop towards such a use:

• to have, to own    
• to control, to exert power over
• to hold, to carry
• to be related to, to pertain to

Here, one could also imagine that different types of objects get different auxiliaries.

2. Syntax

One syntactical issue that emerges is some level of ambiguity with regards to multiple NPs. For me, some level of ambiguity is entirely acceptable, i.e. direct and indirect objects. Here, different verbs for different types of NP can help resolve the ambiguity.

 

However, we could also imagine that the auxiliary only has a reflexive significance with regards to its complements, while adjuncts (or complements of the subordinate verb) are not reflexively owned. Thus

I hold book.acc swap for bag -> I swapped my book for a bag
I hold book.acc and bag.acc swap > I swapped my book for my bag
I swap book for bag > I swapped a book for a bag

If the system has multiple different verbs, there may be a hierarchy as to which noun gets to "decide" which verb is used, or maybe there's a need for using multiple verbs.

We could also imagine that for non-objects, participles are used:

I gave be.related.to-ING brother a gift: I gave my brother a gift

A little post scriptum

As you might have noticed, the pace with which I post here has been severely diminished. One particular cause looms large: all the low-hanging fruit has already been picked.

Thus, writing a post worth posting takes about ten times as long these days as it did at the heyday of productivity. I will, however, go on posting, and there are ideas that slowly mature in the drafts folder. There's a significant number of slowly growing ideas.