Re: Celtic and Afro-Asiatic?

> > > 11) Predicative particle: in copular or nominal sentences,
> > >       the predicate is marked with a particle homophonous
> > >       to a "local" preposition: "He (is) in a farmer"="he is a
>farmer."
>
>Well, vague: in Finnish, sentences like 'I work *as a doctor*' use
>essive case, and the adessive and IIRC inessive cases are probably
>locative particles ('at' or 'in') + essive case historically, so
>there's a vague link.  Anyway, in copular sentences, this is not used,
>but nominative.  (The direct translation of the above would mean 'he
>*has* a farmer' in Finnish).
>**Henrik
A few minor corrections: Historically, the "-na" suffix used to indicate the
locative case; the essive use came later AFAIK. And a literal translation of
"he in a farmer" would still mean "he in a farmer". You're probably thinking
of "hänellä (on) maanviljelijä", which is literally "on he (is) a farmer".
(Furthermore, a literal translation of "he (is) on a farmer" could in some
contexts mean "he is visiting a farmer"...)

John Vertical