Re: how can I tell a postposition from a case marker???

On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Matthew Turnbull <ave.jor@...> wrote:

> So before recently, the scentence equivilant to "I walk towards a cat" would
> be
> ::*vrotyomo indsa   niiaoth*
> ::I.walk   towards cat
> but for the last little while I've been saying
> ::*vrotyomo niiaothindsa*
> ::I.walk   catwards
> but it only happens with verbs implying motion, like vrotyo, for a verb that
> does not imply motion it's still a preposition.
> ::*moktaomo indsa kufath*
> ::I.sit    near  dog
>
> So my question is, since it behaves very similarly to the other case markers
> like the instrumental, should I consider that for verbs of movement a new
> case has evolved, or that it has become a postposition, I really can't tell.
If it's had simply become a postposition, I would expect you could
find some situations where another word (an adjective, maybe?)
might go in between the noun and the "indsa" marker.  If that never
happens, I would be more inclined to analyze it as having become
a case ending.

--
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/conlang/fluency-survey.html
Conlang fluency survey -- there's still time to participate before
I analyze the results and write the article

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