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Historical SummarySimilarly, in Melanesia as many as four degrees of "mineness" may be expressed, including a possession which the speaker has created:
There are [says Codrington] in Melanesian languages at least two [possessive nouns], one expressing closer, the other remoter relation; in many there are four. In Mota there is, with the first person singular suffix, nok, a thing belonging to me generally, gak, a thing belonging more closely to me, mak, a thing for my drinking, mok, a thing of my doing.3
In the Fijian language
the first series [of possessives] is suffixed to nouns of relationship, parts of the body and parts of things. The second series is used with things possessed or made use of. The third series is used with things destined for, or things to be eaten. The fourth series is used with things to be drunk.4
When yon den Steinen was collecting word stems among the Brazilian Bakairi he discovered that if, for example, he inquired about the word "tongue" the answer differed if he pointed to his own tongue, the tongue of his interlocutor, or the tongue of a third person. My tongue was ulu, thy tongue alu, his tongue ilu, everybody’s tongue kxulu.5
3Codrington, R.H.n/an/an/an/a, , 129.
4 Ray, S. H., "Melanesian Possessives, a Study in Method," Amer. Anth., N.S., 21: 349.
5 Steinen, K., von den, Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens, 79.
Chicago: Melanesian Languages in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=X85WND7AFZKWJEJ.
MLA: . Melanesian Languages, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=X85WND7AFZKWJEJ.
Harvard: , Melanesian Languages. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=X85WND7AFZKWJEJ.
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