omistatavat

Omistatavat is a term that sometimes appears in discussions of Finnish grammar as a label for a class of referents that can be possessed by an agent. The word is formed from the verb omistaa (to own) and resembles the plural of omistettava, an adjective meaning “to be owned” or “possessable.” In standard Finnish, the common plural for items that can be owned is omistettavat; omistatavat is not widely recognized and is often regarded as nonstandard or dialectal. When encountered, it is usually explained as a variant or a hypothetical term used to discuss possession rather than as a stable lexical item.

Semantics and use: If defined, omistatavat would denote objects capable of possession by a subject, regardless of current ownership. This category is relevant in studies of property, rights, and linguistic encoding of possession, particularly when researchers distinguish between things that can be owned and things that cannot be owned (such as abstract concepts) or between inherently possessable versus contextually possessible items.

Relation to Finnish grammar: Possession in Finnish is typically expressed with possessive suffixes on noun phrases and with the verb omistaa. The standard term for possessible objects is omistettavat. Discussions of omistatavat often occur in theoretical or dialectal contexts, with omistettavuus (possessability) cited as a more common related concept.

See also: omistaminen, omistettavuus, possessive constructions, Finnish grammar.