classifying genitive

classifying genitive (bestemmende genitivsledd): a genitive expression which indicates that the head noun belongs to a particular class of things. It functions as a premodifier in a noun phrase. Sometimes (but not always!) the meaning of the noun phrase with a classifying genitive is not predictable from the meaning of the genitive phrase + the meaning of the head noun. E.g. men's room ('toilet'- not a room belonging to men), doctor's degree (an academic degree), children's books (a particular type of books), shepherd’s pie (an English dish). It is only the s-genitive that can be classifying. An English noun phrase with a classifying genitive often corresponds to a compound noun in Norwegian (e.g. herretoalett, doktorgrad, barnebøker). Compare specifying genitive.