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Abessive case
In linguistics, abessive (abbreviated ABE or ABESS), caritive (abbreviated CAR)[1] and privative (abbreviated PRIV) 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 abesse "to be away/absent", and is especially used in reference to Uralic languages. The name caritive is derived from Latin: carere "to lack", and is especially used in reference to Caucasian languages. The name privative is derived from Latin: privare "to deprive". In Afro-Asiatic languagesSomaliIn the Somali language, the abessive case is marked by -la'. For example:
In Australian languagesMartuthuniraIn Martuthunira, the privative case is formed with either -wirriwa or -wirraa.[2] In Uralic languagesFinnishIn the Finnish language, the abessive case is marked by -tta for back vowels and -ttä for front vowels according to vowel harmony. For example:
An equivalent construction exists using the word ilman and the partitive:
or, less commonly:
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 ilman forms:
The abessive is, however, commonly used in nominal forms of verbs (formed with the affix -ma- / -mä-):
This form can often be replaced by using the negative form of the verb:
It is possible to occasionally hear what is considered wrong usage of the abessive in Finnish, where the abessive and ilman forms are combined:
There is debate as to whether this is interference from Estonian. EstonianEstonian also uses the abessive, which is marked by -ta in both the singular and the plural:
Unlike in Finnish, the abessive is commonly used in both written and spoken Estonian. The nominal forms of verbs are marked with the affix -ma- and the abessive marker -ta:
Tallinn has a pair of bars that play on the use of the comitative and abessive, the Nimeta baar[3] (the nameless bar) and the Nimega baar[4] (the bar with a name). Skolt SamiThe abessive marker for nouns in Skolt Sámi is -tää or -taa in both the singular and the plural:
The abessive-like non-finite verb form (converb) is -ǩâni or -kani:
Unlike Finnish, the Skolt Sámi abessive has no competing expression for lack of an item. Inari SamiThe abessive marker for nouns in Inari Sámi is -táá. The corresponding non-finite verb form is -hánnáá, -hinnáá or -hennáá. Other Sami languagesThe abessive is not used productively in the Western Sámi languages, although it may occur as a cranberry morpheme. HungarianIn Hungarian, the abessive case is marked by -talan for back vowels and -telen for front vowels according to vowel harmony. Sometimes, with certain roots, the suffix becomes -tlan or -tlen. For example:
There is also the postposition nélkül, which also means without, but is not meant for physical locations.[5]
In Mongolic languagesMongolianIn Mongolian, the privative suffix is -гүй (-güy). 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.[6] See alsoReferences
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