Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

then is the resultant possessive relation between the direct object and the recipient coded?
The answer lies, I believe, in a little known phenomenon that occurs with the possessor of
an inalienable noun in languages that make use of ergative case-marking.
In West Greenlandic Inuit, the possessor of an inalienable noun that has been
incorporated into the verbal complex regularly occurs in the ergative case, as in the
following examples (Geenhoven 1998, 18, fn. 4; cf. Sadock 1991, 96-97; Rischel 1971,
234).
(69) kunngi-p panik-passna-qar-p-u-q
king-Erg daughter-many-have-Indic-Intrans-3Sg
There are many king’s daughters, i.e., princesses
(70) hansi-p qimmi-p ame-qar-tip-p-a-a
Hans-Erg dog-Erg skin-have-Cause-Indic-Trans-3Sg-3Sg
Hans let him have a dog’s skin
(71) sisimiut sissa-p naalaga-qar-p-u-q
Sisimut shore-Erg chief-have-Indic-Intrans-3Sg
Sisimut had a chief of the shore
In these examples, it is clear that the ergative case-marked noun in (69) and (71) and the
ergative nominal that is closest to the verb in (70) are not, in any sense, agents in the
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