Sufijos formadores de adjetivos posesivos del español de México; su lugar en el sistema y en la comunicación

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the function of the four most frequent possessive suffixes in Mexican Spanish; and to relate them to two further suffixes with a similar function. It is shown that the relationships they can mark are much more varied than simple “possession ”. Two groups of possessive suffixes can be distinguished: one where simple “possession ” is indicatedand another where an augmentative-possessive relation is marked. Within the simple possessives; the paper tries to further differentiate between the functions of the suffixes oso and ado; and it is found that only ado is apt to mark deliberate possession of discrete objects. The discourse function of the “possessive ” suffixes in general can be said to be descriptive; more specifically; they contribute conciseness to narrative texts; but can have a specific function as classifiers in specialized texts.