Predicative Possession in Rashti Gilaki

Possession is a universal concept. It can be syntactically represented as one of the two major varieties: Attributive or Predicative. Attributive possession is encoded as a noun phrase containing the possessor and the possesee, while predicative possession is encoded as a sentence. In the present study, predicative possession construction in Rashti Gilaki was investigated with a cognitive approach. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study. A total of 420 sentences were gathered via native Gilaki speakers, all of which verified by other native speakers of the same variety, as well as the data already created in Rastorgueva et. al. (2012). The theoretical framework of the present study is Stassen (2009) in which four major categories are introduced for encoding predicative possession including Locational, With-possessive, Topic possessive and "Have" possessive. The existence of the Locational variety, as well as With-possessives and "Have" possessives were confirmed, while no evidence for the existence of Topic possessives could be found. "Have" possessives occurred more frequently than the other two varieties, making up the overall majority of the data. As a result, it can be considered the main strategy for encoding predicative possession in the Rasht variety of Gilaki.