0

I'm writing my essay about corruption (Part II.) and I have already come across two words (one of which is rewritten for political reasons)...

MAMESZ

and

police

...that have to be put into the s-Genitive case. The problem is that these words end in the phoneme /s/ that is the same as that of the s-Genitive.

How should I use the s-Genitive?

MAMESZ' and police'

or

MAMESZ's and police's

...and how are they pronounced in case they are embellished with an s-Genitive?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1
  • It's not a genitive, its a clitic.*

The spelling is certainly "police's", [po'li:siz]. Probably "Mamesz's" [mamesiz] is prefered by most writers, but there is some variation. For example

Alexis Sanchez's struggles reveal Manchester United's main problem in attack under Jose Mourinho source

For the police, consider rewording using "of": Instead of saying "The police's role has changed." say "The role of the police has changed".

Improve this answer
3
  • Isn't the pronunciation [mamesiz]? In Hungarian MAMESZ is pronounced as [mames]. Or does that clitic change the pronunciation?
    – user68840
    Apr 25, 2018 at 17:35
  • 1
    I'm not an expert in Hungarian! I'll edit
    – James K
    Apr 25, 2018 at 18:39
  • Oh, I didn't mean to criticise you, I just wondered if that was so. Thank you for your edit.
    – user68840
    Apr 25, 2018 at 18:41
0

There is no single rule. Some writers add a possessive apostrophe after a final 'z': Mamesz' Sanchez' Diaz', other add an 's' as well. Mamesz's Sanchez's Diaz's. The final 'z' consonant is not sounded identically with a final 's' in the second two examples; I do not know how Mamesz is pronounced alone, but I would say Sanchezes car, Diazes house. I would probably guess at saying 'Mamezes'

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.