possessed noun and possessor noun. Nouns that are "inherently relational" and whose possession is associated with a single dominant interpretation (mother) are of the inalienable type, and nouns whose possession is open to interpretation (car) are of the alienable type. Interaction with coreference There are few grammatical distinctions between alienable and inalienable possession in English, but there are differences in the way coreference occurs for such possessive constructions. For instance, examples (21a) and (21b) have interpretations that differ by the type of (in)alienable possession: In example (1a), the pronominal possessor (her) can refer to Lucy or to another possessor not mentioned in the sentence. As such, two interpretations of the sentence are possible: However, in example (21b), the pronominal possessor (her) can only grammatically refer to Lucy. As such, the hand being discussed must belong to Lucy. Therefore, the pronominal possessor patterns with pronominal binding in the alienable construction, but the pronominal possessor patterns with anaphoric binding in the inalienable construction. In anaphoric binding, an anaphor requires a coreferent antecedent that c-commands the anaphor and that is in the domain of the anaphor. For example (1b) to obey those conditions, the pronominal possessor must refer to Lucy, not to another possessor that is not mentioned in the sentence. Thus, by having only one grammatical interpretation, (1b) is consistent with anaphoric binding. On the other hand, the interpretation of alienable constructions such as 1a can be ambiguous since it is not restricted by the same properties of anaphoric binding. Cross-linguistic properties Although there are different methods of marking inalienability, inalienable possession constructions usually involve the following features: The distinction is confined to attributive possession. Alienable possession requires more phonological or morphological features than inalienable possession. Inalienable possession involves a tighter structural bond between the possessor and the possessee. Possessive markers on inalienable nouns are etymologically older Inalienable nouns include kinship terms and/or body parts. Inalienable nouns form a closed class, but alienable nouns form an open class. (Heine 1997: 85-86 (1-6)) Restricted to attributive possession Alienability can be expressed only in attributive possession constructions, not in predicative possession. Attributive possession is a type of possession in which the possessor and possessee form a phrase. That contrasts to predicative possession constructions in which the possessor and possessee are part of a clause, and the verb affirms the possessive relationship. The examples in (22) express the same alienable relationship between possessor and possessee