The theory of Possessive Postposition

The theory of possessive postposition

According to this view there are no case forms in English, all being extinct in Modern English. The genitive case is treated as a combination of a noun with a postposition. This view is supported by G. Vorontsova. She argues that the postpositional element is losely connected with a noun, it may refer not only the single nouns, but to phrases too, for example Prime- minister of England's arrival. Secondly, there is a parallelism of functions between the genitive case constructions and prepositional phrases resulting in the optional use of the former. These arguments are rather strong. Yet the theory of the possessive postposition fails to consider the nature of the noun form in 's achieved by the limited case theory. The latter gives a more systemic analysis based on structural- functional characteristics. Besides, in cases like Prime-Minister of England's arrival the use of the genitive case has a stylistic colouring, which proves its transpositional character.