Basque to Fijian: a possessive relationship can require more than one kind of my
Basque -ren does not specify only ownership
Margolari ezagun horren erretratoa can describe a portrait related to a well-known painter in more than one way. Laka notes ownership, authorship and being the person portrayed as possible readings. For a Fijian translation, identifying the relationship comes before selecting a possessive expression: the painter may own the object, have painted it, or appear in it.
These interpretations lead to different information in an exhibition description. A portrait painted by somebody is not necessarily a portrait of that person, and neither statement establishes who owns it. The Basque genitive phrase alone can leave that relationship open. A target formulation that chooses one interpretation without contextual support can invent an attribution or a subject.
Fijian possession can distinguish intended use
Joseph Hong’s survey describes Fijian possessive patterns for general items, food, drink, and body parts or kinship. His paired examples kequ ika and noqu ika distinguish fish for the speaker to eat from fish treated as merchandise. The important contrast is not a different owner but a different relationship between that owner and the fish.
This is especially useful when a Basque message about fish moves between a meal and a market. A general expression of possession does not by itself settle whether the item is intended for the speaker’s consumption. In Fijian, choosing an edible possessive pattern can make that use relevant; a neutral pattern can support a different relationship.
Imagine a Basque seller separating a customer’s order from stock retained for sale. Translating every possession through the same target pattern could blur the distinction between an allocated meal and merchandise. Conversely, classifying all fish automatically as food for its possessor would add an intention not necessarily expressed by a description of commercial stock.
An attached source form need not become an attached target form
Hong illustrates a different possessive pattern with ligaqu, my hand. This is not formed like the general-item expression in his examples. Thus a Basque possessive should not be translated by placing one invariant Fijian equivalent of my before every noun, regardless of whether the message concerns a hand, a saleable item or something to eat.
The Basque portrait example and the Fijian fish contrast address different uncertainties. The first asks what relation holds between two people or things; the second shows that target possession may express a use relationship as well as a possessor. Resolving only the identity of the owner does not necessarily resolve either problem.
For this direction, preserve authorship explicitly when authorship is meant, depiction when a person appears in an image, and intended consumption only when it belongs to the message. Then select the Fijian possessive pattern appropriate to that relationship. This avoids turning a painter into a portrait’s subject or making commercial fish into the seller’s personal meal through an automatic possessive choice.
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