Re: English has 4 cases, not 3!

Am 29.12.01, Michael Poxon yscrifef:

> If you take the broadly-acceptable definition of case (i.e., a
> nominal/pronominal morpheme of some sort) then, for the most part, English
> doesn't really have cases, and certainly no allative/locative, etc. I'd have
> thought to be called a 'case' you'd have to have some sort of
> across-the-board feature, which -ward(s) isn't. You can't say "mewards",
> "windowwards", "dogwards" or so on. But of course these things are rarely
> shut up in neat boxes, and the case (sorry!) that can be made for a
> Genitive, say, is very strong.
While I agree that -ward(s) is not a case ending (it's an
adverb); why can't you say "windowward of the davenport
was an old grammophone"? Pronoun + -ward(s) would be an
interesting construction, and perhaps a bit odd sounding;
but I don't think inherently incorrect.

> Mike
Padraic.
--
Bethes gwaz vaz ha leal.