Re: inalienable possession

Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > Couldn't it be in some natlangs the origin of their cases? I've
> > read somewhere that prepositions came often from others nouns or
> > verbs.
> > Imagine the evolution: verbs->pre-postpositions->case endings (or
> > beginnings).
>
> Almost always verbs --> postpositions --> case-endings.  It's
> probably quite common, I don't know of any examples, but that
> process would probably take a long time, so it's not surprising
> that there'd be no known examples.  We know of
>    verbs --> adpositions, and postpositions --> case-endings.
> For example: the English verbs "concern" had the participle
> "concerning", which is now a preposition.  Mandarin Chinese
> uses the verb "give" as a preposition marking indirect object.
Oops... In Almaqerin I used the following evolution:

    case endings --> suffixes --> postpositions --> prepositions

The switch from postpositions to prepositions is a feature
of Almaqerin, whereas the 'brother' language Sitarwelas
only shows:
    case endings --> suffixes / postpositions

(suffixes are still bound to the noun, but do not decline
anymore)

I thought that "case endings" were very ancient features in
(real) languages, and that the evolution I adopted would look
quite natural. Perhaps that's not the case?

Didier.
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