Possessor rising in Bosnian

Possessor rising in Bosnian

SALCIC, Aida

This paper is in the field of linguistics, namely syntax, and deals with the issue of possessor rising. Possessor rising is a syntactic operation common in a number of languages. The term 'possessor rising' refers to the object which is being 'raised' from the possessor position of the noun phrase, as in the following sentence: She kissed him on the cheek. (Lødrup 2009). The starting point of this analysis is Cinque and Krapova’s account of the two possessor raising constructions of Bulgarian (2009). The aim is to test whether possessor raising constructions exist in Bosnian and to show how the data from Bulgarian can be applied to Bosnian, another Slavic language. The paper first gives an outline of some preliminary facts about the syntax of Bosnian nominal phrases (noun phrases – NPs or determiner phrases – DPs) and its (possessive) clitics, which are well-known to occupy the second position in the clause. The second part of the paper aims to present the nature of possessor rising as it applies to Bosnian. Although English does not exhibit instances of true possessor rising, there will be some, though limited, comparisons between Bosnian and English in this respect. Parallels will also be drawn between Bulgarian and Bosnian. The final section of the paper offers a conclusion and a unified account of the phenomenon of possessor rising in Bosnian. The analysis of possessor rising in Bosnian is done in the framework of generative grammar.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2013

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