Amharic is known for having a construction expressing "possession", but not the verb 'to have'. The focal point of the constructions is the verb alle meaning "to be, exist", which attaches a suffixed personal pronoun expressing the possessor. The construction is believed to be the result of the topicalization process, and I will show some examples to support the hypothesis. In my article I analyze the construction of possession in terms of syntax, morphology and semantics, as well as pragmatics, giving a list of proverbs in which the construction occurs showing all of its specifics.

llykowska@uw.edu.pl