Abessive case
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed In linguistics, abessive (abbreviated Template:Sc or Template:Sc), caritive (abbreviated Template:Sc)<ref>Template:Citation</ref> and privative (abbreviated Template:Sc) is the grammatical case expressing the lack or absence of the marked noun. In English, the corresponding function is expressed by the preposition without or by the suffix -less.
The name abessive is derived from Template:Lang "to be away/absent", and is especially used in reference to Uralic languages. The name caritive is derived from Template:Langx "to lack", and is especially used in reference to Caucasian languages. The name privative is derived from Template:Langx "to deprive".
In Afro-Asiatic languages
[edit]Somali
[edit]In the Somali language, the abessive case is marked by Template:Lang. For example:
- Template:Lang "name"
- Template:Lang "nameless"
- Template:Lang "clothes"
- Template:Lang "clothesless," i.e., naked
In Australian languages
[edit]Martuthunira
[edit]In Martuthunira, the privative case is formed with either Template:Lang or Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Cite book
</ref>
In Uralic languages
[edit]Finnish
[edit]In the Finnish language, the abessive case is marked by Template:Lang for back vowels and Template:Lang for front vowels according to vowel harmony. For example:
- Template:Lang "money"
- Template:Lang "without money"
An equivalent construction exists using the word Template:Lang and the partitive:
- Template:Lang "without money"
or, less commonly:
- Template:Lang "without money"
The abessive case of nouns is rarely used in writing and even less in speech, although some abessive forms are more common than their equivalent Template:Lang forms:
- Template:Lang "unsuccessfully, fruitlessly"
- Template:Lang "I cried for no reason."
The abessive is, however, commonly used in nominal forms of verbs (formed with the affix Template:Lang / Template:Lang):
- Template:Lang "without speaking"
- Template:Lang "without buying"
- Template:Lang "without caring"
- Template:Lang "The train didn't show up."
This form can often be replaced by using the negative form of the verb:
- Template:Lang "The train didn't show up."
It is possible to occasionally hear what is considered wrong usage of the abessive in Finnish, where the abessive and Template:Lang forms are combined:
There is debate as to whether this is interference from Estonian.
Estonian
[edit]Estonian also uses the abessive, which is marked by Template:Lang in both the singular and the plural:
- Template:Lang "without a car" (the preposition Template:Lang "without" is optional)
Unlike in Finnish, the abessive is commonly used in both written and spoken Estonian.
The nominal forms of verbs are marked with the affix Template:Lang and the abessive marker Template:Lang:
- Template:Lang "The train didn't show up."
Tallinn has a pair of bars that play on the use of the comitative and abessive, the Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web Nimeta baar, English page</ref> (the nameless bar) and the Template:Lang<ref>http://www.baarid.ee/en/NimegaBar/programm.php Nimega baar Template:Webarchive</ref> (the bar with a name).
Skolt Sami
[edit]The abessive marker for nouns in Skolt Sámi is Template:Lang or Template:Lang in both the singular and the plural:
- Template:Lang "I cried for no reason."
The abessive-like non-finite verb form (converb) is Template:Lang or Template:Lang:
- Template:Lang "He/she went home without saying why he/she had come."
Unlike Finnish, the Skolt Sámi abessive has no competing expression for lack of an item.
Inari Sami
[edit]The abessive marker for nouns in Inari Sámi is Template:Lang. The corresponding non-finite verb form is Template:Lang, Template:Lang or Template:Lang.
Other Sami languages
[edit]The abessive is not used productively in the Western Sámi languages, although it may occur as a cranberry morpheme.
Hungarian
[edit]In Hungarian, the abessive case is marked by Template:Lang for back vowels and Template:Lang for front vowels according to vowel harmony. Sometimes, with certain roots, the suffix becomes Template:Lang or Template:Lang. For example:
- Template:Lang "money"
- Template:Lang "without money"
- Template:Lang "home(land)"
- Template:Lang "(one) without a homeland"
There is also the postposition Template:Lang, which also means without, but is not meant for physical locations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Lang "I drink tea without sugar."
- Template:Lang "I lived without siblings."
- Template:Lang "Did you come to Hungary without your sibling?"
In Mongolic languages
[edit]Mongolian
[edit]In Mongolian, the privative suffix is Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration). It is not universally considered to be a case, because the suffix does not conform to vowel harmony or undergo any stem-dependent orthographical variation. However, its grammatical function is the precise inverse of the comitative case, and the two form a pair of complementary case forms.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>