Carsten Becker wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>My dad recently got angry about the question why the genitive disappears
>more and more in German. I didn't know the reason or if there is a
>comparable process in other languages. However, the genitive can be
>replaced by a dative construction in all places in spoken language.
I don't speak German but I think that it is similar to something in French
The preposition "de" when it marks the genive can be replaced by "à" that
usually marks the dative
My father's car = La voiture de mon père ~ La voiture à mon père
Is it similar to what you think that happens in German?
>This
>has become more and more popular over the years so that most people
>(including me) don't use the genitive anymore except in 'formal'
>environments such as school or in writing.
It's the same for me concerning "de" and "à" in French
>Hence the saying "Save of the
>dative, the genitive's is already dead!".
>Another question (my question) is, why the conjunction "weil"
>("because", also governing genitive case!) developed towards triggering
>SVO in the following undoubtly subordinate clause, although the standard
>word order in subordinate clauses is SOV.
>
>Thanks,
>Carsten
- Max