ИСТИНА

In the paper the problem of delimitation of possession category in Russian is addressed in terms of the Theory of functional grammar on the basis of contrasting adnominal genitive construction with the main predicative possession constructions U X-a (jest’) Y and Х imeet Y. The analysis shows that for Russian the semantic domain of possession category cannot be identified with that of adnominal genitive, because predicative possession constructions exclude quantifying relations (as a subclass of mereology relations) and put various constraints on relation of other types. In course of the analysis communicative-pragmatic, semantic and lexical constraints on expressing non proper posessive relations with the help of constructions U X-a (jest’) Y and Х imeet Y are brought to light.