It has been observed that the relation of possession contributes to the formation of so-called adversity causatives, whose subject is understood as a possessor of an object referent. This interpretation is reflected at face value in some studies, and it is assumed there that the subject argument is introduced as a possessor in syntax. This paper addresses the question of whether the observed relation should be directly encoded as such and argues that the subject argument is introduced as merely an event participant whose manner is underspecified. Moreover, it argues that the possessor interpretation arises from inference based on both linguistic and extralinguistic contexts, such as the presence of a possessum argument. This view is implemented as an analysis making use of a kind of applicative head (Pylkkanen, 2008) in conjunction with the post-syntactic inferential strategy (Rivero, 2004).
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