Variation in the syntax and semantics of predicative possession in Quechua

Abstract

This paper employs comparative evidence from two closely-related Quechua languages to argue that predicative possession constructions do not always share a single underlying source crosslinguistically (contra Freeze 1992; and in support of Boneh & Sichel 2010; Levinson 2011). This Quechua case study is especially striking in that the constructions involved are superficially almost identical–the crucial differences between them emerge only when theoretically-informed fieldwork is carried out.