Locative/Instrumental

Trevor Peterson 06PETERSON at cua.edu
Fri Jul 19 13:49:57 EDT 2002


>===== Original Message From Denny A Diehl <dd-1 at juno.com> =====
>Wallace states
>that with the five-case system (as opposed to the eight-case
>system) both locative and instrumental are to be understood;

I should add that the issue between the case systems is probably more 
pedagogical than anything. Once you get in your head that each case is 
distinct, it's harder to let usage remain fuzzy across categories. So even 
though locative and instrumental might look alike and might both be possible 
facets of meaning in a given use, the boundary of calling them separate cases 
appears to be more rigid. This is part of the argument for using a five-case 
system--that what correlates directly with form should be view as a 
categorically different sort of feature than what is simply a facet of the 
possible meaning a word can carry. In other words, I can say that something in 
the genitive form is limited to the meaning available in the genitive form, as 
opposed to, say, the nominative. But if the forms are identical (as happens 
with the locative and instrumental cases), then there is no limitation other 
than what the context imposes.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics




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