Experiments in Linguistic Meaning

Nominal possessive constructions (e.g. Sam's car) present a challenge for theories of discourse since, unlike simpler nominal phrases (e.g. a car), they explicitly refer to two entities, not just one. Research on the discourse prominence of these two referents has been limited in scope and produced contradictory findings. We use a sentence continuation experiment to investigate the prominence of possessions as a function of their animacy. We find that possessed animates (e.g. her butler) are especially prominent. Their privileged status in discourse may relate to non-linguistic theories on the importance of interpersonal relationships.