On the semantics of possessive constructions in Maltese

Abstract

Possessive constructions in Maltese arc of two kinds: the Construct State Construction (CSC) and the Periphrastic Possessive Construction (PPC). Broadly speaking, these two constructions represent the two sides of an inalienability split in the nominal component of the lexicon. Despite the broad characterisation in terms of an mahenability split, there is a set of nominals that exhibit a certain degree of optionality of occurence in either construction. Additionally, morphosyntactic properties of inalienables are often manifested to different degrees; thus, certain nouns take an enclitic pronominal possessor, a property usually associated with inalienables, but do not occur in the full phrasal form of the CSC. The present work proposes a way of accounting for these problems within a well-defined formal framework based on functional approaches to grammar and Optimality Theory.