Naming the Owner

Direct possession uses noun-first order without an English apostrophe ending. It includes ownership, family relationships, and association. Thus ìyá Tósìn names Tósìn's mother without suggesting physical ownership. Compare àpò Bísí, ‘Bísí's bag’, with àpò mi, ‘my bag’: the possessor changes, while the head remains first.

The possessor's number does not determine the number of possessed items. Plural marking can apply separately to either noun phrase. The textbook describes noun-final lengthening before consonant-initial possessors and distinguishes vowel-initial possessors. These examples retain undoubled lexical noun forms. The textbook also writes doubled vowels when presenting connected possessive forms. These cards show the lexical noun followed by its possessor; they do not impose a universal orthographic classification on those textbook spellings. The lengthening does not mark plural agreement or an English-style possessive ending.