Re: what is "Suffixaufnahme" ?

 --- Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> skrev:
> Hallo!
>
> On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 19:07:19 +0200,
> Rodlox <Rodlox@...> wrote:
>
> > > From:    =?iso-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg?= Rhiemeier
> <joerg_rhiemeier@...>
> > > > This system was inspired by Northeast
> Caucasian
> > > > languages which do similar tricks, only with
> postpositions
> > > > (which are considered case endings by some,
> resulting in enormous
> > > > case counts).
> > >
> > > But Suffixaufnahme* is not the reason that NEC
> languages are said
> > > to have huge case inventories.
> >
> >  I keep seeing that word...so, I ask - what is
> Suffixaufnahme ?  *curious*
>
> It is a peculiar kind of case marking.  In some
> languages, when a noun
> modifies another noun (e.g., a possessor in the
> genitive case),
> it receives a number and case marker agreeing with
> the number and
> case of the head nouns.  It is sometimes also called
> `case stacking',
> which describes the phenomenon better.  Here are a
> few simple examples
> from my conlang Old Albic:
>
> mbar  lacalas
> house councillor-GEN
> `the councillor's house'
>
> mberim   lacalerim
> house-PL councillor-GEN-PL
> `the councillor's houses'
>
> not to be confused with
>
> mbar  lacelis
> house councillor-PL-GEN
> `the councillors' house'
>
> or
>
> mberim   lacelirim
> house-PL councillor-PL-GEN-PL
> `the councillors' houses'
>
> Now, put the thing in locative case:
>
> mbaras    lacalaras
> house-LOC councillor-GEN-LOC
> `in the councillor's house'
>
> or even
>
> mberias      laceliremas
> house-PL-LOC councillor-PL-GEN-PL-LOC
> `in the councillors' house'
>
> For more examples, see
>
>
http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0406A&L=conlang&P=R1449
>
> Suffixaufnahme is a rather rare phenomenon.  It
> seems that it only
> occur in languages that
>
> (1) have a case system,
> (2) have adjectives agreeing with nouns in case and
> number,
> (3) have genitives following the noun,
>
> but I am not sure.  At any rate, there are many
> languages fulfilling
> these criteria that don't have Suffixaufnahme.
>
I had trouble with that Word, "Suffixaufnahme",
because I did't know what was the supposed meaning of
"Aufnahme". My dictionnary gives 14 different
acceptions for "Aufnahme", and 18 for "aufnehmen", the
most common seeming to be a photographic one... which
is probably not the case here.

But according to the examples you give, I guess it's
what is called in French "surdéclinaison", for
describing Basque for ex.

Some examples I found are:

aita = father; aita-ren = of the father; aita-ren-tzat
= in favour of the father (prolative)

lan = work; lan-aren = of the work; lan-aren-ik =
of... of the work, like in "laborantzak lanarenik ez
du emaiten" = "agriculture doesn't give (salary) of
the work" = isn't worth the effort (partitive, with an
ellipse)

aitaren = of the father
aitarena = the one of the father
aitanaren = of the one of the father
aitarenari = to the one of the father
aiten = of the fathers
aitena = the one of the fathers
aiteneri = to the ones of the fathers
aitenaren = of the one of the fathers
aitenen = of the ones of the fathers
(etc !)

mendiko bidea = the path going through the mountain
mendirako bidea = the path going to the moutain
menditikako bidea = the path coming from the mountain

(This reminds me that deputy explaining in the
Parliament that in his area, there were more roads
uphill than downhill).

Then a "complex case" : etcheradinokoan = while going
as far as the house, "singular inessive constructed on
the -ko genitive of the singular approximative of
'etche'".

Interesting people, those Basques.



=====
Philippe Caquant


Ceterum censeo *vi* esse oblitterandum (Me).

Reply