3. Possessive Forms in Mongolian; their role in Switch Reference

3.1. Possessive Forms in Mongolian

Given the role of the reflexive suffix and possessive particles in SR, it is necessary to understand the Mongolian system of possessive forms. These include:

Possessive pronouns (similar to English 'This book is mine')

Possessive determiners (similar to English 'my book')

Possessive particles (which might, at a considerable stretch, be compared to English 'book of mine')

A reflexive suffix (roughly renderable as 'one's own book').

The last three — particularly possessive particles and the reflexive — are important for SR in Mongolian. The table below, for standardised Khalkha Mongolian, is adapted from Guntsetseg (2016) (section 3.2.2).

1. Possessive determiners are the Genitive forms of the personal pronouns. They occur in prenominal position, e.g., minij nom 'my book'.

2. Possessive particles are reduced forms of the possessive determiners and occur in postnominal position. They attach after the case ending or, if the case ending is zero, the noun stem. For example, nom min' 'my book'. These are very similar in meaning to possessive determiners but tend to be used for closer or more intimate relationships (including kinship and inalienable possession). In their possessive sense, they are not used together on the same noun. Therefore, *minij nom min' 'My book of mine' is not allowed in Mongolian.

Apart from their original use as possessives, the possessive particles, particularly čin' and n', can be used for discourse functions such as topicalisation (indicating the topic of a sentence) and emphasis (emphasising one part of a sentence). Since these uses have not yet been fully described, I will refrain from further explanation here. However, these wider functions are often related to SR in Mongolian and will be noted where relevant.

3. The reflexive suffix (or reflexive-possessive suffix) is a bound form that typically attaches to case endings other than the Nominative. The Accusative case ending is regularly dropped with a reflexive suffix (except under certain conditions) meaning that the reflexive can also attach directly to the noun stem. (Note)

Since the reflexive suffix and possessive particles are crucial to SR in Mongolian, they warrant closer scrutiny.

The reflexive suffix takes the form -aa, -ee, -oo, or -öö (-аа, -ээ, -оо, -өө), depending on vowel harmony. In the traditional script it is rendered as a separate orthographical form, ᠪᠠᠨ (after vowels) or ᠵᠢᠠᠨ (after consonants). The following shows the reflexive with the noun eež 'mother'.

The reflexive suffix indicates that the noun to which it is attached is related to the subject of the sentence or clause. It is not differentiated for person; instead, person is determined by the subject of the clause. If the subject of the sentence or clause is first person ('I'), the reflexive will be interpreted as 'my (own)'; if the subject is second person ('you'), it will be interpreted as 'your (own)', and so on.

The use of the reflexive is grammatically obligatory when it is applicable. For instance, in a sentence meaning 'I gave it to my mother', 'my' must be expressed using the reflexive eež-d-ee ('to one's own mother'), not eež-id min' ('to my mother'). The latter form can only be used if someone else gave something to my mother.

By contrast, possessive particles can attach to any case, including the Nominative. They may refer to entities within the sentence or in the larger discourse context, including those not explicitly mentioned. However, as noted, they cannot be used on nouns related to the subject of the sentence or clause.

The reflexive suffix and possessive particles are therefore mutually exclusive, standing in a complementary relationship. The reflexive takes precedence and is used when a noun is related to the subject of the sentence or clause. The possessive particles are used for first, second, or third person when these do not relate to the subject of the sentence or clause.

In framing sentences in Mongolian, awareness of the relationship to the subject of the sentence is as important as keeping in mind the sex of a person ('he' or 'she') or the grammatical subject for verb agreement ('I go', 'you go', 'he/she goes') in English. The relationship indicated by the reflexive is not necessarily one of direct ownership or possession. In some cases it can indicate other kinds of relationship.

The examples below demonstrate the interaction between reflexive suffixes and possessive particles.

(Examples for different cases follow)

Nominative — possessive particles only:

Accusative

Show - Hide: Further examples of Reflexive / Possessive Particles

3.2 Role of Possessive Forms in SR

In addition to nouns, the reflexive suffix is able to attach to subordinate clauses, a feature that is central to SR in Mongolian.

When added to a subordinate clause, the reflexive suffix serves to indicate that the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as the subject of the main clause ('same subject'). The subject is not repeated in the subordinate clause.

On the other hand, if a subordinate clause is bare (not followed by a reflexive suffix) or is followed by a possessive particle, the subject of the subordinate clause will be different from that of the main clause ('different subject'). In this case, the subject of the subordinate clause may be retained or deleted. If it is retained, it may have differential subject marking (that is, case marking other than Nominative).

Several different types of subordinate clause can be marked with the reflexive suffix:

1. Subordinate clauses ending in verb forms that can directly take case endings ☟. The case ending indicates the syntactic role of the subordinate clause in the sentence, whether as a daughter or ad-subordinate clause.
2. Clauses ending in certain predicative forms ☟ (such as xeregtei 'having necessity', yostoi 'having obligation', the negative form -güj, and at times adjectives), which can be followed by cases.
3. The verb form gedeg ☟, which acts as a complementiser and can be followed by case endings;
4. Subordinate clauses ending in a postposition ☟. Genitive or Ablative-inflected verb forms preceding postpositions can carry the reflexive suffix. In other cases the postposition itself takes the reflexive suffix. These are very common and include words equivalent to English 'before', 'after', 'about', 'for the sake of', etc.
5. Subordinating converbs ☟ (nonfinite verb forms whose main function is to mark adverbial subordination). These converbs include some forms that can be followed by reflexives and some that can not.

On the other hand, there are some forms (other than a few members of the subordinating converbs) that do not take the reflexive suffix.

1. The quotative gež ☟ is a coordinating converb and does not take the reflexive. The only SR marking is thus differential subject marking.
2. A few verbs of 'desiring' ☟do not allow the reflexive suffix on a subordinate clause.