Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 10:21:53 -0800
From: David Robertson net091[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RISCY.SFCC.CTC.EDU
Subject: Lakota possessives
This is in regard to my recent comment about forms of possession in
Lakota. I haven't managed to corral my friend who's got a copy of Riggs'
grammar. However on page 39 of Father Buechel's dictionary, he
enumerates along with the "separate" possessives, i.e. adjectival forms,
the following _four_ (not three as I'd thought) grammatical categories of
possession affixes:
1. Property [mita...]
2. Body parts [ma...]
3. Incorporeal parts [mi...]
4. Relationships [mi...; ...ku; unki...pi; etc.]
I hope this is of some help. Note that Buechel doesn't speak of
"inalienable" and "alienable" possession, so those of us interested in
that question will still need to research a bit in the language.
Dave