Possession in Tatediem

Pronominal possession has already been covered. More general nominal possession is based on this, and therefore, reading about pronominal possession before reading this is recommended.

Generally speaking, when possession is marked on the possessum, the possessum is always marked for definiteness. The possessor is placed to the right of the possessum, and the object prefix corresponding to the possessor's gender and number is inserted between the definite gender prefix and the noun root in the possessum. The possessor is unmarked.

There is no mandatory distinction between reflexive possession and other third person pronominal possession. Tatediem, however, has reflexive object and reflexive indirect object prefixes for the verb, and sometimes the presence of the reflexive indirect object marker serves to mark that the object is reflexively possessed, in order to disambiguate. However, additional ambiguities are created that way.

The dialects that use -páhí or -gìan do not generally differentiate reflexive possession from regular third person possession. 

As for predicative possession, -páhí and cognates are used in almost all dialects to express 'X has Y'. However, some dialects permit two ways of expressing it: subj-obj-páhí and subj-dative-páhí - in the latter, the subject is the possessed thing, in the previous it is the object (mainly, dialects permit subj-obj-páhí). The verb -gìan that is present in most dialects only permits a construction with possessor as (indirect, if possible) object, and the possessum as subject.

In dialects that have both, -páhí is more likely to be used to express "x has y", whereas -gìan is used to express "y is x's". However, both verbs can be used for both meanings, and dialects that only have one of them naturally uses that one for both meanings. Word order adjustment - such as fronting one of the nouns -, and prosody serve to distinguish the two uses.