Re: Cases, again
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, March 30, 2004, 19:13 |
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On Tuesday, March 30, 2004, at 03:42 AM, Michael Martin wrote:
> Me again. Still thinking about cases.
>
> I got to wondering, is there any reason that case markings have to be
> attached to the noun? Could there be a separate word, before or after
> the noun, that designates case?
Yes, there could be and are - they're prepositions if before the noun, or
postpositions if after the noun (the general term being 'adposition' for
both sets). Japanese makes extensive use of postpositions for what are
traditionally called 'case' distinctions.
> Or maybe the article inflects for case
> instead of the noun? Are there any real languages that do something
> like this?
Quite possibly. Modern German nouns have very little inflexion to show
case; the main way that case is indicated is by changes in the definite &
indefinite articles and other determinants such as demonstrative pronouns.
It would be a short step to drop noun inflexion entirely & rely just on
suh determinants. I'd be surprised if no natlang did this.
Ray
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