Re: Learning a language

From: Eugene Holman (holman_at_elo.helsinki.fi)
Date: 06/22/04 

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 13:58:23 +0300

In article <40d7daec$1_3@newspeer2.tds.net>, "Douglas G. Kilday"
<fufluns@chorus.net> wrote:

> "Eugene Holman" <holman@elo.helsinki.fi> wrote ...
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > Before continuing, how do you define "case"?
> >
> > I will begin the discussion with this standard definition:
> >
> > *Case* is a system for marking dependent nouns for the type of
> > relationship they bear to their heads. Traditionally the term refers to
> > inflectional marking, and, typically, case marks the relationship of a
> > noun to a verb at the clause level or of a noun to a peposition,
> > postposition, or other noun at the phrase level.
> > (Barry J. BLAKE. *Case*. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge
> > University Press. 1994, pg. 1.)
>
> You agree with this malarkey?

I regard it as a good starting point for discussion.

> What is a noun in the vocative case dependent
> on, what is its "head", and what type of "relationship" does it bear to its
> "head"?
>
> An example showing that the vocative cannot be dismissed as a non-case
> disconnected from the other cases is found in Xenophon, _Anabasis_ 2:5, <ô
> kákiste anthró:po:n Ariaîe ...> 'O wickedest of men Ariaeus ...'. Here a
> genitive depends on a vocative.
>
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > (German)
> > Er läuft in die Schule.
> > he runs into ACCUSATIVE(the + school)
> > "He is running into the school."
> > and
> > Er läuft in der Schule.
> > he runs in DATIVE(the + school)
> > "He is running inside the school."
> > or
> > (Latin)
> > In scholam currit.
> > into school-ACCUSATIVE s/he-runs
> > "He/she is running into the school."
> > and
> > In scholâ currit.
> > in school-DATIVE s/he-runs
> > "He/she is running inside the school."
>
> D'oh! In school-ABLATIVE !!!
> I hope I'm not the only one here who noticed that!

Mea culpa!

Regards,
Eugene Holman