locative

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Locative (abbreviated loc) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases together with the lative and separative case.

The locative case exists in many language groups.

Indo-European languages

The Proto-Indo-European language had a locative case expressing "place where", an adverbial function. The ending depended on the last vowel of the stem (consonant, a-, o-, i-, u-stems) and the number (singular or plural). Subsequently the locative case tended to merge with other cases: the genitive or dative.^[1] Some daughter languages retained it as a distinct case. The locative case is found in:

• modern Balto-Slavic languages (see however prepositional case)
• some classical Indo-European languages, particularly Sanskrit and Old Latin
• uncommon, archaic or literary use in certain modern Indian languages (such as Marathi in which a separate ablative case has however disappeared)

Latin

In Latin, the functions of the locative case were mostly absorbed by the ablative, but a separate locative is found in a few words.

The Latin locative case applies only to the names of cities and small islands and to a few other isolated words. The Romans considered all Mediterranean islands to be small except for Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, and Cyprus. Britannia was also considered to be a "large island." There are a few nouns that use the locative instead of a preposition: domus becomes domī (at home), rūs becomes rūrī (in the country), humus becomes humī (on the ground), militia becomes militiae (in military service, in the field), and focus becomes focī (at the hearth; at the center of the community).

For singular first and second declension, the locative is identical to the genitive singular form, and for the singular third declension the locative is identical to the ablative singular form. For plural nouns of all declensions, the locative is also identical to the ablative form. The few fourth and fifth declension place-name words would also use the ablative form for locative case.

In archaic times, the locative singular of third declension nouns was actually interchangeable between ablative and dative forms, but in the Augustan Period the use of the ablative form became fixed.  Therefore, both forms "rūrī" and "rūre" may be encountered.

The first declension locative is by far the most common, because so many Roman place names were first declension: mostly singular (Roma, Rome; Hibernia, Ireland; etc., and therefore Romae, at Rome; Hiberniae, at Ireland), but some plural (Athenae, Athens; Cumae, Cuma etc., with Athenis, at Athens; Cumis, at Cumae). But there are a number of second declension names that would have locatives, too (Brundisium, Brindisi; Eboracum, York; with locatives Brundisiī, at Brindisi; Eboraci, at York, etc.)

Greek

In Ancient Greek, the locative merged with the Proto-Indo-European dative, so that the Greek dative represents the Proto-Indo-European dative, instrumental, and locative. The dative with the preposition ἐν en "in" and the dative of time (e.g., τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ or tēî trítēi hēmérāi, which means "on the third day") are examples of locative datives.

Germanic languages

The locative case had merged with the dative in early Germanic times and was no longer distinct in Proto-Germanic or in any of its descendants. The dative did, however, contrast with the accusative case, which was used to indicate motion toward a place (it had an allative meaning). This difference in meaning between dative and accusative is present in all of the old Germanic languages and survives in all Germanic languages that retain a distinction between the two cases.

Slavic languages

Unusual in other Indo-European branches but common among Slavic languages, the ending depends on whether the word is a noun or an adjective (among other factors).

Czech

The Czech language uses the locative case to denote location (v České Republice/in the Czech Republic), but as in the Russian language, the locative case may be used after certain prepositions with meanings other than location (o Praze/about Prague, po revoluci/after the revolution). Cases other than the locative may be used to denote location in Czech as well (U Roberta/at Robert's house -genitive, or nad stolem/above the table -instrumental).

See Czech declension for declension patterns for all Czech grammatical cases, including locative.

Polish

There are several different locative endings in Polish:

• -ie Used for singular nouns of all genders, e.g. niebo → niebie. In a few cases, the softening indicated by i has led to consonant alternations:
  • brat → bracie
  • rzeka → rzece
  • noga → nodze
  • rower → rowerze
  • piekło → piekle

For a complete list, see Polish hard and soft consonants.

• -u Used for:
  • Some masculine singular nouns, e.g. syn → synu, dom → domu, bok → boku, brzuch → brzuchu, worek → worku*, nastrój → nastroju*, deszcz → deszczu, miś → misiu, koń → koniu, Poznań → Poznaniu, Wrocław → Wrocławiu, Bytom → Bytomiu** [* In a few cases, a vowel change may occur, e.g. ó → o, or a vowel may be dropped. ** Final consonants in Wrocław and Bytom used to be soft, which is still reflected in suffixed forms, hence -i-.]
  • All neuter singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. miejsce → miejscu, życie → życiu
  • Some neuter singular nouns ending in -o, e.g. mleko → mleku, łóżko → łóżku, ucho → uchu
• -i Used for:
  • Feminine nouns ending in -ia, e.g. Kasia ("Katie") → o Kasi ("about Katie"), Austria → w Austrii ("in Austria")
  • Feminine nouns ending in -ść, e.g. miłość ("love") → o miłości ("about love")
• -ach Used for plural nouns of all genders, e.g. kobiety ("women") → o kobietach ("about women")
• -ich / -ych Used for plural adjectives of all genders, e.g. małe sklepy ("small shops") → w małych sklepach ("in small shops")
• -im / -ym Used for masculine and neuter singular adjectives, e.g. polski język ("Polish language") → w polskim języku ("in the Polish language")
• -ej Used for feminine singular adjectives, e.g. duża krowa ("big cow") → o dużej krowie ("about a big cow")

Russian

In the Russian language, the locative case has been largely superseded by the prepositional case, which is used only after a preposition. The latter is not always used to indicate location, while other cases may also be used to specify location (e.g. the genitive case, as in у окна́ ("by the window"). Statements such as "в библиотеке" v biblioteke ("in the library") or "на Аляске", na Alyaske ("in Alaska"), demonstrate the use of the prepositional case to indicate location. However, this case is also used after the preposition "о" ("about") as in "о студенте", o studente ("about the student").

Nevertheless, approximately 150 masculine nouns are only used after "в" and "на" to indicate the locative case. These forms end in "-у́" or "-ю́": "лежать в снегу́", lezhat v snegu (to lie in the snow), but "думать о снеге", dumat o snege (to think about snow). Other examples are рай, ray (paradise); "в раю́", дым dym (smoke); and "в дыму́", v dymú. As indicated by the accent marks, the stress is always on the last syllable, which is unlike the dative-case forms with the same spelling. A few feminine nouns that end with the soft sign, such as дверь and пыль, also have a locative form that differs from the prepositional in that the stress shifts to the final syllable: "на двери́", na dverí ("on the door"), but "при две́ри", pri dvéri ("by the door"). These distinct forms are sometimes referenced as "second locative" or "new locative", because they developed independently from the true locative case, which existed in the Old Russian.^[2][3]

With some words, such as дом, dom (house), the second locative form is used only in certain idiomatic expressions, while the prepositional is used elsewhere. For example, "на дому́", na domu ("at the house" or "at home") would be used to describe activity that is performed at home, while "на до́ме" ("on the house") would be used to specify the location of the roof.

Armenian

In the Armenian language non-animate nouns take -ում (-um) for the locative. Animate nouns (referring to persons especially) do not take the locative.

• համալսարանը (hamalsaranə, the university) → համալսարանումը (hamalsaranumə, in/at the university)
• ճաշարան (chasharan, a restaurant) → ճաշարանում (chasharanum, in/at a restaurant)

Turkic languages

Some Turkic languages have a locative.

Turkish

The locative case exists in Turkish, as the suffix generally specified by "-DA". For instance, in Turkish, okul means the school, and okulda means in the school. The morpheme may exist in four different forms, depending on the preceding consonant and vowel. The first phoneme of the locative, "D", changes according to the previous consonant: it is "t" after voiceless consonants, but "d" elsewhere. The vowel changes depending on the phonetic characteristics of the previous vowel: it is "a" after a preceding back vowel, and "e" after a preceding front vowel, congruent with the vowel harmony of the language. This gives four different versions of the morpheme:

• -ta, as in "kitapta", "in the book".
• -te, as in "kentte", "in the city".
• -da, as in "odada", "in the room".
• -de, as in "evde", "in the house".

Uzbek

The locative case exists also in Uzbek. For example, in Uzbek, shakhar means city, and shakharda means in the city, so using -da suffix, the locative case is marked.

Uralic languages

Some Uralic languages have a locative.

Inari Sami

In Inari Sami, the locative suffix is -st.

• kyeleest 'in the language'
• kieđast 'in the hand'.

Hungarian

In the Hungarian language, nine such cases exist, yet the name locative case refers to a form (-t/-tt) used only in a few city/town names along with the inessive case or superessive case. It can also be observed in a few local adverbs and postpositions. It is no longer productive.

Examples:

• Győrött (also Győrben), Pécsett (also Pécsen), Vácott (also Vácon), Kaposvárt and Kaposvárott (also Kaposváron), Vásárhelyt (also Vásárhelyen)
• itt (here), ott (there), imitt, amott (there yonder), alatt (under), fölött (over), között (between/among), mögött (behind) etc.

The town/city name suffixes -ban/-ben are the inessive ones, and the -on/-en/-ön are the superessive ones.

Estonian

The Estonian language has a set of six locative cases, three interior and three exterior ones. They are formed by adding a suffix to the genitive form of the noun.

The interior locative cases are:

• Illative - majasse 'into a/the house', or the irregular short form majja which is used mostly
• Inessive - majas 'in a/the house'
• Elative - majast 'from inside a/the house'

The exterior locative cases are:

• Allative - majale '(on)to a/the house'
• Adessive - majal 'on (top of) a/the house' or 'at a/the house'
• Ablative - majalt 'from a/the house'

(http://www.einst.ee/publications/language/cases.html)

All nouns have a regular version of all these six cases, but many words have a more commonly used irregular short version for the illative case which, instead of adding a sse suffix to the genitive, change their stress/phoneme length without adding an extra syllable for the suffix.

Estonian, like some Indo-European languages (Latin, Russian, Irish), does not normally use the verb to have to show possession. The adessive case and the verb to be is used instead. For example, I have a house in Estonian would be Mul on maja in which mul is in the adessive case, on is the third singular of to be (is), and maja is in nominative, not accusative. So maja is the subject, on is the verb and mul is the indirect object. This could be translated to English as At me is a house or A house is at me or There is a house at me. For this reason, it has been argued that the Estonian adessive case is really a dative one. Statistically, the majority of the occurrences of the exterior locative cases show possession, not location (also Ta andis mulle maja 'He gave (to) me a house', Ta võttis minult mu maja 'He took from me my house').

(http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/21802/1/jaas046011.pdf)

Finnish

Standard Finnish behaves like Estonian. The forms of the six local cases vary slightly from Estonian, with one form being affixed differently:

The interior locative cases are:

• Illative - [taloon] 'into a/the house'; cf. maahan 'into the land', sateeseen 'into the rain'
• Inessive - talossa 'in a/the house'
• Elative - talosta 'from inside a/the house'

The exterior locative cases are:

• Allative - talolle '(on)to a/the house'
• Adessive - talolla 'on (top of) a/the house' or 'at a/the house'
• Ablative - talolta 'from a/the house'

Use of adessive in possession:

• Minulla on talo 'I have a house' (lit. "a house is at me")

Etruscan

The Etruscan language has a locative ending in -thi: velsnalthi, "at Velznani", with reference to Volsinii.^{[citation needed]}

Algonquian languages

Algonquian languages have a locative.

Cree

In Cree, the locative suffix is -ihk.

• • misâskwatômin (Saskatoon berry) → misâskwatôminihk (at the Saskatoon berry) = "[in] Saskatoon, SK"
  • misâskwatôminiskâ- (be many Saskatoon berries) → misâskwatôminiskâhk (at the place of many Saskatoon berries) = "[in] Saskatoon, SK"
  • mînis (berry) → mînisihk (at the berry) = "[in] Saskatoon, SK"

Innu-aimun

In Innu-aimun, the locative suffix is -(i)t.

• • shipu (river) → shipit (at the river)
  • katshishkutamatsheutshuap (school) → katshishkutamatsheutshuapit (at school)
  • nuitsheuakan (my friend) → nuitsheuakanit (at my friend's house)
  • nipi (water) → nipit (in the water)
  • utenau (town) → utenat (in town)

Notes

1. ^ Buck, page 172
2. ^ The Locative Case
3. ^ Everything you always wanted to know about Russian grammar but were afraid to ask, AATSEEL Newsletter, October 2007, pp. 7-8.

Bibliography

• Buck, Carl Darling (1933). Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. 

External links

• Locative in the Russian language (in Russian)