Re: Standard Average European (was: case system)

Swedish has two idioms here, coming close to if not spot on a
distinction between alienable and inalienable possession:

_Han hade/gjorde sönder vasen för mig_

'He had/did the vase broken for me' vs.

_Han bröt benet på mig_

'He broke the leg on me'

Not quite the same topic, but goes to show an interesting diversity
within European.

Icelandic is like German, which makes one suspect
that that pattern is a Germanic archaism.

2008/4/12, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>:
> On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 8:01 AM,  <MorphemeAddict@...> wrote:
>  > In a message dated 4/11/2008 16:25:09 PM Central Daylight Time,
>  >
>  > rfmilly@MSN.COM writes:
>  >
>  >
>  >  > 7.dative external possessors;
>  >  > **Wha?? or does it mean like French c'est a moi 'it's mine' ?? I'm not sure
>  >  > Germanic or other Romance have anything like this.
>  >  >
>  >
>  >  Or maybe something like German "Leg es mir auf dem Stuhl!" (Put it on my
>  >  chair).  The possessive is indicated by the dative pronoun, not by any possessive
>  >  pronoun or adjective.  Russian does the same thing.
>
>
> Similarly, perhaps, with "Er brach mir das Bein" (he broke my leg;
>  literally, he broke me the leg).
>
>  Cheers,
>  Philip
>
> --
>  Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
>

--
/ BP