This parameter considers the various strategies of marking adnominal possession on nouns and, when applicable, the locus of marking (head or dependent marking). Only alienable possessives should be considered, such the father’s house. In possessive constructions, the possessed (Poss) is the head, and the possessor (Gen) is dependent.

Types:

Juxta: Possession is expressed through the juxtaposition of the possessor and the possessed noun.

PossSuff: Possession is expressed through the use of a suffix on the possessed noun.

PossPref: Possession is expressed through the use of a prefix on the possessed noun.

GenSuff: Possession is expressed through the use of a suffix on the possessor.

GenPref: Possession is expressed through the use of a prefix on the possessor.

PossSuffGenSuff: Possession is expressed through the use of a suffix on both the possessed noun and the possessor.

PossPrefGenPref: Possession is expressed through the use of a prefix on both the possessed noun and the possessor.

GenSuff&PossPrefSuff: Possession is expressed through the use of a suffix on the possessor and a suffix and prefix on the possessed noun.

GenPref&PossPrefSuff: Possession is expressed through the use of a prefix on the possessor and a suffix and prefix on the possessed noun.

GenClit: Possession is expressed through the use of a clitic marking the possessor.

AdpBetween: Possession is expressed through the use of an adposition between the possessor and the possessed noun, with the nouns appearing in base form.

ProBetween: Possession is expressed through the use of a pronoun between the possessor and the possessed noun, with the nouns appearing in base form.

ArtBetween: Possession is expressed through the use of an inflected article between the possessor and the possessed noun, with the nouns appearing in base form.

AdpOutside: Possession is expressed through the use of an adposition appearing before or after the entire possessive construction.

ProOutside:  Possession is expressed through the use of a pronoun appearing before or after the entire possessive construction.

ArtOutside: Possession is expressed through the use of an article appearing before or after the entire possessive construction.

AdpBetweenGenAff: Possession is expressed through the use of both (1) an adposition (preposition or postposition) appearing between the possessor and the possessed and (2) an affix on the possessor.

ProBetweenGenAff: Possession is expressed through the use of both (1) a pronoun appearing between the possessor and the possessed and (2) an affix on the possessor.

ArtBetweenGenAff: Possession is expressed through the use of both (1) an article appearing between the possessor and the possessed and (2) an affix on the possessor.

Flex: The possession-marking morpheme or word either displays flexible word order or is determined by factors or components other than the possessor and possessed (such as obligatorily appearing in the nth position in the sentence).

When a language displays more than one type, multiple values can be listed. If one type is dominant, a slash (/) can separate the two values, with the dominant value appearing first; if neither is dominant, they are listed with an ampersand (&) separating the two. The use of parentheses indicates that the strategy is not obligatory.

1 This is not to be confused with predicative possessive marking.

2 For the purposes of this parameter, the label Gen refers to the nominal possessor, not the genitive case.

3 The mixed use of both prefixes and suffixes on the possessor and possessed is uncommon. However, if such cases occur, the language can be classified as PossSuffGenPref or PossPrefGenSuff.

4 “Suffix and prefix” refers to the existence of both, without either one established as a dominant strategy in the language.

5 Although this clitic modifies the possessor semantically, it does not necessarily attach directly to the affected noun. For example, in English, the clitic ’s can appear at the end of the entire noun phrase, as in the girl next door’s cat.

6 If any of the nouns also appear in other than base form, this should be noted in the commentary.

7 If any of the nouns also appear in other than base form, this should be noted in the commentary.

8 If any of the nouns also appear in other than base form, this should be noted in the commentary.

9 For example, the value PossSuff(&GenSuff) describes Hungarian: a suffix obligatorily appears on the possessed and optionally on the possessor.