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Oblique Cases

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3.2.2 oblique cases

Oblique case nouns take adverbial position, i.e. between the lexical verb and the auxiliary.

aldar, tree
oblique cases inflection singular plural semantics
dative -on aldarron eldairron tree(s) [IO]
instrumental -os aldarros eldairros with tree(s)]
genitive -îon aldarrîon eldairrîon of a tree(s)
abessive -ul aldarrul eldairrul without tree(s)

3.2.2.1 dative

The dative case is used for indirect objects, other non-locative, and non-instrumental oblique arguments of the verb.

The queen gave a sword to the warrior.
ir arielle eleth an ir authnar megillon erannaen
(arlair ne osnair no megla anth)
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ir  arnarielle              eleth             en         ir 
i   arro =nar     =iel -e   el-        -eth   en         i  
the rule =one.who =fem -[A] assertive- -past  agt.to.pat the
det v    =agtv    =gnd -erg mood-      -tense ptp        det
the queen                   did               agt.to.pat the

authnar                megillon     erannaen                     
autho    =nar     -0   megil -on    er-  anno -ae      -n        
make.war =one.who -[P] sword -[Obl] do-  give -agt/pat -actn/proc
v        =agtv    -abs n     -dat   agt- v    -val     -vc       
warrior                sword        give                         

3.2.2.2 instrumental

The instrumental case marks the object as the instrument with which the action of the verb is carried out.

I killed the tiger with a bow.
eleth en i dais cuios ernurgoraen
(ne taisir cuini en nogodh)
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(ner)     eleth             en         i   dais       cuios     
ner  -0   el-        -eth   en         i   tais  -0   cui -os   
I    -[A] assertive- -past  agt.to.pat the tiger -[P] bow -with 
1per -nom mood-      -tense ptp        det n     -abs n   -instr
I         did               agt.to.pat the tiger      with.bow  

ernurgoraen                               
er-  en-    ur-  coiro -ae      -n        
do-  cause- not- live  -agt/pat -actn/proc
agt- caus-  neg- v     -val     -vc       
slay                                      

 

The nardhoth rarely express the 1st person pronoun in A- or S-function as it is considered immodest to do so. Context and the absence of a required argument of the predicate indicate an unexpressed first person argument.

 

3.2.2.3 genitive

The Genitive case marks an associative relation.

The king's land
i dhor arnarannion
(dorir arrao)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
i   dhor arnarannion             
i   dor  arro =nar     =an   -ion
the land rule =one.who =masc -of 
det n    v    =agtv    =gnd  -gen
the land of king                 

3.2.2.4 abessive

The Abessive case marks the absence of the referent noun.

The land without trees.
i dhor eldairrul
(dorir ul aldrei)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
i   dhor eldairrul          
i   dor  aldar -i   -ul     
the land tree  -plu -without
det n    n     -num -abess  
the land without.trees