N. ALIEVA THE POSSESSIVE SYNTACTICAL TYPE AND THE MALAY LANGUAGE

genera'1 features, its evolution and its use in grammatical structures of Indonesian languages (Alieva, 1978). Among the problems connected with the possessive category, it is essential to discuss the problem of the possessive structure of a sentence over against the possessive structure of a language, a problem which, with regard to Indonesian and Malay, in that paper has 'been referred to as peripheral. However, this problem must be studied both as a general linguistic problem of typology and as an aspect of the grammatical system of an Austronesian language. In this case the problem is treated by using examples from Bahasa Indonesia, alfhough Malaysian provides similar materials. In the first place I will discuss what the "possessive structure of a language " and the "possessive structure of a sentence " are. The problem of possessiveness as the dominant feature of a language was discussed by European linguists of the 19th century with regard to Indo-European and American Indian languages. A detailed and qualified, though not impartial analysis of the linguistic theories of F. N. Finck, H. Schuchardt, C. C. Uhlenbeck and some other authors is found in a monograph by J. Wils (1952), who supported the idea of contrasting active, dynamic features and passive features (in a broader sense) as the determining characteristics of a language system. NATALIA F. ALIEVA, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies