nongenitive

Nongenitive is a linguistic term used to describe languages or constructions that do not employ a distinct genitive case to mark possession. In a nongenitive system, possessive relations are signaled by means other than inflecting the possessed noun with a genitive suffix or altering its form.

Common mechanisms include possessive adjectives or pronouns (such as my, your), periphrastic constructions that attach a possessive marker to the possessor or to a possessive particle, and noun-noun possessive compounds in which the relationship is expressed without a genitive case on the noun being possessed.

Languages often cited as nongenitive in their possession marking include Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. Mandarin typically uses de after the possessor, as in 我的书 (wǒ de shū) 'my book'. Indonesian normally places the possessive pronoun after the possessed noun, as in buku saya 'my book'. Vietnamese uses để cấu sao that indicates possession with of-phrase constructions, as in quyển sách của tôi 'my book' (của after the possessed noun phrase). These examples illustrate how possession can be expressed without a functional genitive case.

These languages illustrate the variety of non-genitive possession strategies and how possession can be expressed without a functional genitive case. The term 'nongenitive' is used mainly in typological discussions and is not always treated as a strict, uniform category; some languages have mixed or limited genitive marking.

See also: Genitive, Possession, Possessive construction.