Active case-marking natlangs (was Re: What is needed in anconlang classificatory system?)

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:

> daniel andreasson <daniel.andreasson@...> writes:
>
> > Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> >
> > > 1. Some fictional languages display combinations of features not
> > > attested in natlangs.  For example, I have heard multiple times that no
> > > active language has yet been found that marks nouns for case that way -
> > > those that are known are all head-marking.  But several case-marking
> > > active languages exist in the realm of fiction (e.g. Nur-ellen and I
> > > think also Chevraqis).
> >
> > And Rinya! :)  And Georgian. Of course, Georgian could be argued
> > to be a head-marking language because of all the stuff you put on
> > the verb root, but it does inflect NPs for case. And Georgian displays
> > active alignment in the aorist tense by marking the NPs with different
> > case suffixes. So it should count as a case-marking active natlang.
>
> Of course, how could I forget?!  Where did I leave my mind?  Georgian is
> pretty familiar to me, I used it once as a counterexample against Marcus
> Smith's claim that active case-marking systems don't exist!
Tokana is another conlang with an active case-marking system.  Tokana is
strictly dependent-marking in this regard, inasmuch as there is no agreement
morphology on verbs.  The breakdown of case forms works more-or-less like this:

ABSOLUTIVE:  patients/themes (including subjects of non-eventive verbs)
NOMINATIVE:  volitional agents of eventive verbs (both transitive and
intransitive)
DATIVE ("to/at/in"):  recipients, experiencers of verbs of
perception/emotion/cognition, goals, locations, possessors
ABLATIVE ("from/of/out of"):  sources, non-volitional agents of eventive verbs,
standards of comparison, supersets in partitive relations, reasons/motives,
substances
INSTRUMENTAL ("with/by/via/through"):  instruments and inanimate actors,
measurements/durations, degrees of comparison
ALLATIVE ("towards/for"):  benefactees, 'non-endpoint goals'
COMITATIVE ("with"):  comitatives, subsidiary instruments, possessees

Matt.