On the differences between adnominal and external possession in Ishkashimi

This paper discusses two particles that mark possession in Ishkashimi: -no and -noy. These markers are not in free variation; -noy can only mark adnominal possession, while -no can mark external possession. This will be argued for on the basis of distributional and interpretational differences between the two markers. Unlike the marker -noy, -no can appear in the context of nominal ellipsis and possessive predicates. A -noy-marked possessor has to be adjacent to the possessed noun and precede it; a -no-marked possessor does not have these adjacency requirements. In the context of possessor doubling, -noy is only compatible with 3rd person. In the case of negation, when the existence of the possessed is denied, only the -no marker is licensed. The differences in the distribution of the two markers correlate with their morphological differences; unlike -no, -noy is morphologically complex and encodes the person of the possessor.