Re: Derived adpositions (< Linguistic term for ease of changing word-class)

Hallo!

On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:51:15 -0400, Dana Nutter wrote:

> I have derived prepositions in Sasxsek.  The suffix "-u" makes a
> lexical into a preposition.
>
> [examples snup]
In Old Albic, many prepositions are case forms of nouns which
express relations.  Some examples:

_and_ 'inside'
_andal_ (inside-LOC) 'in'
_andan_ (inside-ALL) 'into'
_andad_ (inside-ABL) 'out of'

_ras_ 'top'
_rasal_ (top-LOC) 'on'
_rasan_ (top-ALL) 'onto'
_rasad_ (top-ABL) 'from the top'

_dal_ 'bottom'
_dalal_ (bottom-LOC) 'under'
_dalan_ (bottom-ALL) '(to) under'
_dalad_ (bottom-ABL) 'from under'

etc.

The objects of these relational nouns are coded as inalienable
possessors, appearing in the partitive case (locative if inanimate),
they repeat the case ending of the relational noun as an instance
of suffixaufnahme:

_andal amalal cotholol_ (inside-LOC the-LOC-LOC house-LOC-LOC)
'in the house'
_andan amalan cotholon_ (inside-ALL the-LOC-ALL house-LOC-ALL)
'into the house'
_andad amalad cotholod_ (inside-ABL the-LOC-ABL house-LOC-ABL)
'out of the house'

In some daughter languages, the relational nouns form possessive
compounds with their objects (an alternative way of expressing
inalienable possession, in Old Albic used mainly with pronominal
possessors (e.g. _macoth_ 'my house') and phrases such as _cothodvar_
'house-door'), resulting in what is essentially a Daghestanian-style
case construction kit:

_amal cothandal_ 'in the house'
_aman cothandan_ 'into the house'
_amad cothandad_ 'out of the house'

_amal cothorasal_ 'on the house'
_aman cothorasan_ 'onto the house'
_amad cothorasad_ 'from on the house'

_amal cothodalal_ 'under the house'
_aman cothodalan_ 'to under the house'
_amad cothodalad_ 'from under the house'

... brought to you by the Weeping Elf

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