Contrasts in the Spanish and Korean external possession constructions

Abstract In many languages, an argument external to a nominal can be interpreted as a possessor of that nominal. Korean and Spanish both have such constructions, but the external possessors contrast in their case features, grammatical functions, distribution, and semantic properties (e.g. alienability). This paper develops a Construction Grammar account that treats external possessors as unselected arguments licensed through a conventional implicature.