Advances in the Syntax of DPs - Structure, agreement, and case

Possessives within and beyond NP 203

Another argument for analyzing ezafe-2 nominals as structurally larger than a NumP
(i.e. as necessarily containing the NumP projection) comes from the fact that ezafe-2
nominals are not subject to number-neutrality, unlike bare nominals. Witness the fol-
lowing contrast:

(22) a. Min bala tabib-ı ezli-m
I child doctor-3 look_for.pres 1 sg
‘I am looking for a pediatrician.’
#‘I am looking for pediatricians.’
b. Min tabip ezli-m
I doctor look_for.pres 1 sg
‘I am looking for {a doctor/doctors}.’

Munn (1995) uses the term “AgrP” for the projection that hosts the lower possessors
outside the NP. However, in Tatar it is not clear whether the lower possessors of ezafe-2
trigger agreement on the head noun, as mentioned in Section  2 above. Therefore, it
does not seem to us appropriate to use “AgrP” for the projection of ezafe-2. Instead, we
will use the term “PossP” (for a lack of a better label), but it must be understood to be
limited to ezafe-2 and not ezafe-3 possessives. Note also that Kornfilt (1984) reserves
the label AgrP for the higher projection that hosts ezafe-3, which we call DP. Thus, the
structures for the two ezafe-constructions we have arrived at so far are as follows (these
structures will be modified below):

(23) a. Ezafe-2:

Possessor Poss′

PossP

NumP Poss^0

-e

ezafe-2

xatın-nar

woman-

kijem

clothing

b. Ezafe-3

Possessor D′

DP

PossP D^0

-e

ezafe-3

Marat-nıŋ

Marat-

kijem

clothing