Possessive Constructions in East Polissian Dialects: East Slavic Context

Dialectal morphology and, to a lesser extent, syntax have been relatively well documented in Ukrainian and, more broadly, in East Slavic dialectology. Notwithstanding this achievement, certain morphosyntactic characteristics have received limited attention, particularly from a cross-linguistic and typological perspective. One of these aspects is the encoding of possession in East Polissian (or northeastern) Ukrainian dialects. Possession, as universal, is a fundamental grammatical category, yet its diverse realizations across dialects can shed light on both historical developments and typological patterns within Slavic and European languages. This study addresses this point by examining frequent strategies that East Polissian dialects employ to convey possessive relations. Drawing on data derived from a personal corpus of dialectal speech, complemented by other primary sources, the analysis focuses on the most salient possessive constructions. Among these, external possessive constructions–based on the ESSE (‘be’) locative model–emerge as a particularly prominent feature. The findings reveal both continuity with other East Slavic varieties and localized innovations that distinguish East Polissian from other Ukrainian and East Slavic dialect groups. By providing an account of possessive constructions, this research not only fills a descriptive lacuna in East Slavic dialectology but also contributes to typological debates on possession and grammatical encoding more generally. The results have implications for a more comprehensive understanding of internal variation within Ukrainian, as well as for a more balanced areal-typological assessment of East Slavic within the broader framework of European languages.