Heine (1997): Possession — Cognitive Sources, Forces, and Grammaticalization #

@cite{heine-1997}

Bernd Heine. Possession: Cognitive Sources, Forces, and Grammaticalization. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 83. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Core claims #

Predicative possession constructions worldwide derive from a small set of eight cognitive event schemas (Table 2.1), each with a fixed propositional structure that predicts the resulting word order and case marking.
Each schema has characteristic contrastive properties (Table 2.3): whether its predicate nucleus is lexical (Action only) or non-lexical, whether its structure is basic or extended, and which participant (possessor or possessee) maps to clausal subject.
Schemas correlate with possessive notions (Table 2.4): Location invariably yields have-constructions; Equation invariably yields belong-constructions; Action and Goal can yield both.
Grammaticalization proceeds via the Overlap Model: Stage I (source meaning only) → Stage II (source + target overlap) → Stage III (target meaning only).
A 100-language survey (Table 2.2) shows schemas are distributed across all continents with Location (20.9%) and Goal (20.0%) as the most common sources, and Action (13.6%) less common than often assumed.

Connections #

Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource: the eight schemas
Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessiveNotion: the seven target notions
Theories.Diachronic.Grammaticalization.GramStage: the verbal cline
Theories.Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011: π operator and arity tracking — connects to which schemas have possessor-as-subject (Action, Companion = transitive/Pred2) vs possessee-as-subject (rest)

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaHasLexicalNucleus :

Typology.PossessionSource → Bool

Whether the predicate nucleus of a schema retains lexical content. Action is unique: its predicate nucleus is a lexical verb ('take', 'seize', 'hold'). All other schemas have non-lexical nuclei (copulas, existentials, locative verbs).

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inductive Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.SourceStructure :

Type

Whether the source structure is basic (two core arguments) or extended (basic structure + an additional oblique participant grafted on). Action and Location are basic; the remaining five involve extending a simpler structure with an additional case-marked participant.

basic : SourceStructure
extended : SourceStructure

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSourceStructure :

DecidableEq SourceStructure

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSourceStructure x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSourceStructure.beq :

SourceStructure → SourceStructure → Bool

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSourceStructure.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSourceStructure :

BEq SourceStructure

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSourceStructure = { beq := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSourceStructure.beq }

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSourceStructure :

Repr SourceStructure

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSourceStructure = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSourceStructure.repr }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSourceStructure.repr :

SourceStructure → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaStructure :

Typology.PossessionSource → SourceStructure

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inductive Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.SubjectParticipant :

Type

Which participant of the source schema is encoded as the clausal subject. Action and Companion encode the possessor as subject; all others encode the possessee as subject.

possessor : SubjectParticipant
possessee : SubjectParticipant

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSubjectParticipant :

DecidableEq SubjectParticipant

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSubjectParticipant x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSubjectParticipant :

BEq SubjectParticipant

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSubjectParticipant = { beq := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSubjectParticipant.beq }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSubjectParticipant.beq :

SubjectParticipant → SubjectParticipant → Bool

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSubjectParticipant.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSubjectParticipant :

Repr SubjectParticipant

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSubjectParticipant = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSubjectParticipant.repr }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSubjectParticipant.repr :

SubjectParticipant → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaSubject :

Typology.PossessionSource → SubjectParticipant

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.action_unique_lexical (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaHasLexicalNucleus s = true → s = Typology.PossessionSource.action

Only Action has a lexical predicate nucleus.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.possessor_subject_iff_action_or_companion (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaSubject s = SubjectParticipant.possessor ↔ s = Typology.PossessionSource.action ∨ s = Typology.PossessionSource.companion

Only Action and Companion have possessor-as-subject.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.basic_iff_action_or_location (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaStructure s = SourceStructure.basic ↔ s = Typology.PossessionSource.action ∨ s = Typology.PossessionSource.location

Basic schemas are exactly Action and Location.

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaYieldsHave :

Typology.PossessionSource → Bool

Whether a schema gives rise to a have-construction ('X has Y'), a belong-construction ('Y belongs to X'), or both. Location → have only. Equation → belong only. Action and Goal → both. Companion, Genitive, Topic → have only. Source → irrelevant for predicative possession (provides attributive possession source).

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaYieldsBelong :

Typology.PossessionSource → Bool

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.location_yields_have_only :

schemaYieldsHave Typology.PossessionSource.location = true ∧ schemaYieldsBelong Typology.PossessionSource.location = false

Location invariably leads to have-constructions, never belong.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.equation_yields_belong_only :

schemaYieldsHave Typology.PossessionSource.equation = false ∧ schemaYieldsBelong Typology.PossessionSource.equation = true

Equation invariably leads to belong-constructions, never have.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.dual_schemas (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaYieldsHave s = true ∧ schemaYieldsBelong s = true ↔ s = Typology.PossessionSource.action ∨ s = Typology.PossessionSource.goal

Action and Goal are the only schemas that can yield both types.

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inductive Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.OverlapStage :

Type

Grammaticalization from source schema to possessive target proceeds through three stages (the Overlap Model, Figure 2.1).

sourceOnly : OverlapStage
Stage I: the construction has source meaning only. (e.g., "The money is in his hand" = pure location)
overlap : OverlapStage
Stage II: source and target meanings overlap; the construction is ambiguous between source and possessive interpretations. (e.g., Russian "u Markovyx gripp" = "There is flu at the Markovs" or "The Markovs have the flu")
targetOnly : OverlapStage
Stage III: target meaning only; source meaning is no longer available. (e.g., Estonian "isal on raamat" = "Father has a book", not "A book is on the father")

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqOverlapStage :

DecidableEq OverlapStage

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqOverlapStage x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqOverlapStage :

BEq OverlapStage

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqOverlapStage = { beq := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqOverlapStage.beq }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqOverlapStage.beq :

OverlapStage → OverlapStage → Bool

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqOverlapStage.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprOverlapStage.repr :

OverlapStage → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprOverlapStage :

Repr OverlapStage

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprOverlapStage = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprOverlapStage.repr }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.OverlapStage.degree :

OverlapStage → ℕ

The Overlap Model is a monotonic progression: each stage is more grammaticalized than the previous.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.overlap_ordered :

OverlapStage.sourceOnly.degree < OverlapStage.overlap.degree ∧ OverlapStage.overlap.degree < OverlapStage.targetOnly.degree

Source-only precedes overlap, which precedes target-only.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.action_overlap_cline_covary :

OverlapStage.sourceOnly.degree < OverlapStage.targetOnly.degree ∧ Diachronic.Grammaticalization.GramStage.fullVerb < Diachronic.Grammaticalization.GramStage.auxiliary

The Action Schema's grammaticalization path through the Overlap Model: a full lexical verb ('take', 'seize') at Stage I becomes a possessive auxiliary ('have') at Stage III. Both the Overlap Model and the verbal cline are monotonic, and they co-vary: advancing through overlap stages corresponds to advancing along the boundedness cline.

This parallels the general unidirectionality of grammaticalization: fullVerb → auxiliary is the path from source schema (action verb) to target schema (possessive marker).

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structure Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.SchemaDist :

Type

Distribution of major source schemas across continents, from the 100-language sample. Each entry is (schema, counts by continent). Continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Indian/Pacific Ocean.

schema : Typology.PossessionSource
europe : ℕ
asia : ℕ
africa : ℕ
america : ℕ
pacific : ℕ

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSchemaDist.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : SchemaDist) :

Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSchemaDist :

DecidableEq SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSchemaDist = Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instDecidableEqSchemaDist.decEq

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSchemaDist.beq :

SchemaDist → SchemaDist → Bool

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSchemaDist.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSchemaDist :

BEq SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSchemaDist = { beq := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instBEqSchemaDist.beq }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSchemaDist.repr :

SchemaDist → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSchemaDist :

Repr SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSchemaDist = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.instReprSchemaDist.repr }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.SchemaDist.total (d : SchemaDist) :

ℕ

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d.total = d.europe + d.asia + d.africa + d.america + d.pacific

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.actionDist :

SchemaDist

Table 2.2 data: major schemas in 100 languages. Note: some languages have more than one major schema, so totals exceed 100.

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.actionDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.action, europe := 3, asia := 1, africa := 9, america := 1, pacific := 1 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.locationDist :

SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.locationDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.location, europe := 5, asia := 8, africa := 9, america := 1, pacific := 0 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.companionDist :

SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.companionDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.companion, europe := 0, asia := 0, africa := 7, america := 3, pacific := 4 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.genitiveDist :

SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.genitiveDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.genitive, europe := 0, asia := 2, africa := 4, america := 5, pacific := 5 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.goalDist :

SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.goalDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.goal, europe := 3, asia := 11, africa := 4, america := 1, pacific := 3 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.topicDist :

SchemaDist

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Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.topicDist = { schema := Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.topic, europe := 0, asia := 4, africa := 1, america := 3, pacific := 3 }

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.table2_2 :

List SchemaDist

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.table2_2_total :

actionDist.total + locationDist.total + companionDist.total + genitiveDist.total + goalDist.total + topicDist.total = 101

Total attestations across six identifiable schemas: 101 (> 100 because some languages use multiple schemas). The remaining 9 attestations are opaque or minor schemas not included here.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.location_and_goal_most_frequent :

locationDist.total ≥ goalDist.total ∧ goalDist.total > actionDist.total

Location and Goal are the two most frequent schemas worldwide.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.action_not_dominant :

actionDist.total * 100 / 110 < 15

Action accounts for only 13.6% of major schema attestations (15 out of 110 total) — less common than often assumed for European-centric linguistics. The denominator 110 includes opaque/other schemas.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.asia_goal_dominant :

goalDist.asia > locationDist.asia ∧ goalDist.asia > actionDist.asia ∧ goalDist.asia > topicDist.asia

In Asia, Goal (via dative/benefactive) is the most common schema, exceeding Location (the runner-up): 11 vs 8 out of 26.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.africa_location_action_tie :

locationDist.africa = actionDist.africa

In Africa, Location and Action tie as the most common sources (9 each).

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaTypicalNotions :

Typology.PossessionSource → List Typology.PossessiveNotion

Probabilistic correlations between source schemas and the possessive notions they are most likely to express (§2.3, generalizations i-iv).

Location: most likely physical/temporary possession
Existence (Genitive, Goal, Topic): permanent/inalienable possession
Companion: physical/temporary, or alienable possession
Action: wide range (physical through permanent)
Equation: permanent (ownership, "the book is mine")

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One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaTypicalNotions Phenomena.Possession.Typology.PossessionSource.source = []

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Existence schemas (Genitive, Goal, Topic) are never recruited for physical possession.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.location_not_permanent :

¬(schemaTypicalNotions Typology.PossessionSource.location).contains Typology.PossessiveNotion.permanent = true ∧ ¬(schemaTypicalNotions Typology.PossessionSource.location).contains Typology.PossessiveNotion.inalienable = true

Location is most likely associated with physical/temporary; it is not typically recruited for permanent or inalienable possession.

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.schemaArity :

Typology.PossessionSource → Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType

Map each schema to its Barker 2011 semantic type, based on the argument structure of the resulting possessive predicate.

Possessor-as-subject schemas (Action, Companion) produce transitive constructions: the possessive verb takes two core arguments (possessor and possessee), corresponding to @cite{barker-2011}'s Pred2.

Possessee-as-subject schemas produce intransitive/existential constructions: the possessee is the sole core argument, and the possessor is an oblique adjunct. The possessive predicate is Pred1, with the possessor introduced by Ex closure or case marking.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.possessor_subject_iff_pred2 (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaSubject s = SubjectParticipant.possessor ↔ schemaArity s = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred2

Possessor-as-subject correlates exactly with Pred2 (transitive).

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.pred2_action_companion_only (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaArity s = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred2 ↔ s = Typology.PossessionSource.action ∨ s = Typology.PossessionSource.companion

Pred2 schemas are exactly the basic-structure schemas where the possessor is a core argument (not grafted on). Companion is the exception: extended structure but still Pred2, because the comitative complement is reanalyzed as a core argument.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.pred1_possessee_subject (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

schemaArity s = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred1 → schemaSubject s = SubjectParticipant.possessee

The Pred1 schemas (Location, Genitive, Goal, Source, Topic, Equation) express possession via an existential predicate + oblique possessor. This matches Barker's ExProp closure: the possessor is introduced by existential quantification over a relation, not as a direct argument of the predicate.

Structural consequence: in these schemas, the possessor does NOT fill a relatum slot directly (as it would in Pred2). Instead, it is introduced via case morphology (locative, dative, genitive, etc.) — the morphological reflex of the oblique adjunct position.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.action_schema_on_cline :

Diachronic.Grammaticalization.GramStage.fullVerb < Diachronic.Grammaticalization.GramStage.auxiliary

The Action Schema's grammaticalization path: full lexical verb ('take', 'seize') → have-verb (auxiliary-like). This places Action Schema verbs on the grammaticalization cline from fullVerb toward auxiliary.

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structure Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.SchemaPrediction :

Type

A schema prediction bundle: the testable predictions Heine makes for any language that draws on a given source schema.

schema : Typology.PossessionSource
yieldsHave : Bool
yieldsBelong : Bool
possessorIsSubject : Bool
arity : Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.predictionsFor (s : Typology.PossessionSource) :

SchemaPrediction

Derive predictions from a schema.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.location_predictions :

have p := predictionsFor Typology.PossessionSource.location; p.yieldsHave = true ∧ p.yieldsBelong = false ∧ p.possessorIsSubject = false ∧ p.arity = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred1

Location Schema predictions: have-only, possessee-as-subject, Pred1.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.companion_predictions :

have p := predictionsFor Typology.PossessionSource.companion; p.yieldsHave = true ∧ p.yieldsBelong = false ∧ p.possessorIsSubject = true ∧ p.arity = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred2

Companion Schema predictions: have-only, possessor-as-subject, Pred2.

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theorem Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.genitive_predictions :

have p := predictionsFor Typology.PossessionSource.genitive; p.yieldsHave = true ∧ p.yieldsBelong = false ∧ p.possessorIsSubject = false ∧ p.arity = Semantics.Lexical.Noun.Relational.Barker2011.SemType.pred1

Genitive Schema predictions: have-only, possessee-as-subject, Pred1.

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def Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997.walsToSchema :

Core.WALS.F117A.PredicativePossession → Typology.PossessionSource

@cite{stassen-2013b}'s WALS Ch 117 uses five categories for predicative possession that correspond to Heine's schemas:

WALS locational ↔ Heine Location Schema
WALS genitive ↔ Heine Genitive Schema
WALS topic ↔ Heine Topic Schema
WALS conjunctional ↔ Heine Companion Schema
WALS have ↔ Heine Action Schema

Note: Stassen's "conjunctional" is his term for comitative-based possession (Heine's Companion Schema). Goal Schema languages are typically classified under WALS locational (since both use oblique possessors with existential predicates).

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The WALS-to-Heine mapping agrees with predicativeSource from Typology.lean for the five strategies they share.

Documentation

Linglib.Phenomena.Possession.Studies.Heine1997

Heine (1997): Possession — Cognitive Sources, Forces, and Grammaticalization #

Core claims #

Connections #