Abstract
This chapter demarcates the empirical scope of the book, defining the key notions of property concept sentence and property concept lexeme, showing that property concept sentences vary in whether they invoke the morphosyntax of canonical predication or the morphosyntax of possession. We consider, at a descriptive level, how the nature of the property concept lexeme in a property concept sentence is tied to this variation. Facts from several languages of particular interest are surveyed, including Hausa, Bisa, Ulwa, and Huitoto. It is then shown that the same kind of variation as is observed in property concept sentences is also observed in comparatives.