Nounplusgenitive

Nounplusgenitive is a descriptive label used in linguistic typology for a nominal construction in which a head noun is followed by a genitive element that marks a dependent relation, most commonly possession. The term is not a universally standardized category, but it serves to describe a pattern where the possessive or related genitive relation is expressed directly within the noun phrase, rather than by a separate preposition or a full noun phrase in a different order.

Realizations of nounplusgenitive vary cross-linguistically. One common pattern is a head noun followed by a genitive element attached to the possessor noun, for example in a hypothetical language L1: hat John-gen, glossed as “John’s hat.” Another pattern is a head noun followed by a separate genitive noun phrase, as in hat of John, where the genitive relation is expressed by a genitive noun phrase after the possessed noun. Some languages realize the genitive relation with suffixes or clitics on the possessor, while others use analytic constructions with explicit genitive markers.

Morphology and syntax can differ: genitive marking may be bound to the possessor, to the head noun, or realized through a dedicated genitive particle or noun; word order may be strict (N + Gen) or flexible with linking elements. Semantically, nounplusgenitive expresses possession, attribution, part-whole relations, or association, and it often interacts with determiner systems and noun class or agreement patterns in the surrounding language.

See also: Genitive case, Possession, Noun phrase, Determinatives.