Possession
Possessed nouns are marked with a prefix expressing the person and number of their possessor. The forms of the prefix expressing first person singular is ne-, na-, or ni-, for second person singular it is a-, mwa'a-, a'a-. The third person singular is marked by the prefix ru-. A first person plural possessor is marked by the prefix ta-, second person plural by ha'amwa- and third person plural by wa'a-. Furthermore there are two suffixes. One, -ra'an is used to mark an obviative or fourth person possessor. The other is -me'en used to mark a plural possessum of a singular possessor.
| Number/person of Possessor | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. person | nechi'i "my house" | tachi'i "our house" |
| 2. person | achi'i "your house" | há'amwachi'i "Your (pl.) house" |
| 3. person | ruchi'i "his/her own house" | wa'áchi'i "Their house" |
| 4. person | chí'ira'an "the house of the other" | |
| pl. possessum + 3.p.sg. possessor | chí'imeen "his/her houses" |
Read more about this topic: Cora Language, Grammar, Nominal Morphology
Famous quotes containing the word possession:
“... one of the blind spots of most Negroes is their failure to realize that small overtures from whites have a large significance ... I now realize that this feeling inevitably takes possession of one in the bitter struggle for equality. Indeed, I share it. Yet I wonder how we can expect total acceptance to step full grown from the womb of prejudice, with no embryo or infancy or childhood stages.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 10 (1962)
“Happier of happy though I be, like them
I cannot take possession of the sky,
Mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there,
One of a mighty multitude whose way
And motion is a harmony and dance
Magnificent.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“Most men have always wanted as much as they could get; and possession has always blunted the fine edge of their altruism.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)