accusativegenitivelike

Accusative-genitivelike is a term used in linguistics to describe a nominal construction in which a noun phrase marked in the accusative case expresses a genitive-like relation, most often possession, association, or a close, inalienable linkage, rather than serving as a straightforward direct object. In this pattern, the possessed noun (or sometimes the possessor) bears the accusative marking, and the possessive relation is conveyed through case rather than a distinct genitive marker.

Semantically, accusative-genitivelike constructions encode possessive or relational meaning, such as “the man’s book” or “the roof of the house,” but the grammatical realization relies on the accusative form rather than a traditional genitive construction. Syntactically, the arrangement may involve the possessed noun carrying an ACC form while the possessor appears as a separate phrase or is expressed by a possessive element that interacts with the ACC morphology. The exact positioning and morphology vary across languages, and in some descriptions the construction is analyzed as a specialized possessive category or as a case syncretism rather than a distinct syntactic pattern.

The status and boundaries of accusative-genitivelike constructions are debated. Some typologists treat them as a subtype of possessive constructions or as a cross-linguistic mapping issue between case and semantic relation; others view them as a historical or pragmatic artifact, possibly arising from genitive loss, contact-induced change, or polysemy of the accusative form. Related concepts include the genitive of possession, descriptive/genitive constructions, and cross-linguistic case-marking patterns.