Re: Ordering of case names

Yitzik wrote:
>On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 10:58:19 +0000 Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
> > Yitzik wrote:
> >> P. - Predlozhnyj - L. (or lit. "Prepositional", since in Ru. and Uk.
> >> it is used only in combination with certain prepositions).
> >
> > Funny. In Yargish the locative is only used with postpositions ...
> > perhaps I
> > should be renaming it "postpositional"? Then perhaps not, since it
> > with most
> > postpositions have a decidedly locative meaning. Eg _u-diriz-zata_
> > with the
> > locative of _dir_ "forest" means "in the forest", _u-diru-zata_ with
> > the
> > dative means "into the forest" and _u-dira-zata_ with ergative means
> > "out of
> > the forest". Is the situation in Russian and Ukrainian similar?
>
>To some extent yes. In Uk. it is still called "locative", but Ru. grammar
>uses term "prepositional", because a couple of prepositions demand this
>case
>having no particular locative meaning. E.g., preposition |o| "about"
>demands
>P., so |o syne| means "about (the) son", where |syne| is a P. from |syn|
>"son". In Uk. only prepositions with locative meaning are used with L.: |u
>khati| "in (the) house", |na stini| "on the wall", |pry dorozi| "by the
>road".
Then the Yargish use most resembles the Russian, since in some combinations
the Locative don't convey any proper locative meaning. Eg _u-stuny
u-yargiz-ung_ "the warrior's sword". While this possessive construction may
historically originally have denoted that the thing possessed is found at
the possessor, in "contemporary" Yargish it's simply a grammaticalized way
of expresssing possession, and the postpostition _ung_ don't occur with any
other case. The postposition _uz_ "by" (in the instrumental sense) also only
combines with the Locative.

But I don't see much point in changing the name, really. Illogical
case-names are part of what makes linguistics fun!

                                                        Andreas

_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com