possessív

Possessív is a linguistic term used to describe systems that encode possession in language. It refers to the range of grammatical constructions that express ownership or association, typically by marking either the possessor, the possessed noun, or both.

In practitioner use, possessív covers both inflectional and analytic strategies. Morphology can be affixal, where a suffix or clitic attaches to the possessed noun to indicate the possessor, or periphrastic, where a possessive determiner or pronoun accompanies the possessed noun. Some languages combine several methods, producing rich and layered possession marking. The term is often contrasted with the broader genitive or possessive constructions in a language’s grammar.

Typologically, possessív systems vary in how they encode person, number, and sometimes gender of the possessor, as well as in how closely possession is tied to ownership versus other relational meanings (such as association or part-whole relationships). Some languages rely almost entirely on suffixes attached to the possessed noun, others rely on standalone possessive pronouns or determiners, and still others use a mix of both.

Cross-linguistic patterns commonly cited include languages that use suffixal possessives attached to the possessed noun (as in several Uralic and Turkic languages) and languages that primarily use possessive determiners or adjectives (as in English and many Romance languages). The study of possessív intersects with noun phrase structure, pronoun systems, and genitive paradigms, highlighting how different languages encode the same semantic concept through diverse grammatical means.