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Locative case
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Locative (also called the seventh case) 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.
Proto-Indo-European language had a locative case expressing "place where", an adverbial function.
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Encyclopedia
Locative (also called the seventh case) 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. Some daughter languages retained it as a distinct case. The locative case is found in:
Latin
The Latin locative case is extremely marginal, applying only to the names of cities and small islands and to a few other isolated words. The Romans considered all islands to be "small" except for Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, and Cyprus. Much of the case's function had been absorbed into the ablative. 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. However, there are a few rare nouns that use the locative instead of a preposition: domus becomes domi (at home), rus becomes ruri (in the country), humus becomes humi (on the ground), militia becomes militiae (in military service, in the field), and focus becomes foci (at the hearth; at the center of the community). 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.
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 Brundisi, at Brindisi; Eboraci, at York, etc.)
Note that the locative is used to indicate a place "where" (we would prefix the place name with "at" or "in") as opposed to "to which" (we would prefix the name with "to"). (Walking "in Rome" is not the same as walking "to Rome".)
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 Ceské 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, ie. niebo ? niebie. In a few cases, the softening indicated by i has led to consonant alternations:
- brat ? bracie
- rzeka ? rzece
- noga ? nodze
- rower ? rowerze
- pieklo ? piekle
For a complete list, see .
- -u Used for:
- Some masculine singular nouns, ie. dom ? domu, bok ? boku, brzuch ? brzuchu, worek ? worku*, nastrój ? nastroju*, deszcz ? deszczu, mis ? misiu, kon ? koniu, Poznan ? Poznaniu, Wroclaw ? Wroclawiu, Bytom ? Bytomiu** [* In a few cases, a vowel change may occur, ie. ó ? o, or a vowel may be dropped. ** Final consonants in Wroclaw and Bytom used to be soft, which is still reflected in suffixed forms, hence -i-.]
- All neuter singular nouns ending in -e, ie. miejsce ? miejscu, zycie ? zyciu
- Some neuter singular nouns ending in -o, ie. mleko ? mleku, lózko ? lózku, ucho ? uchu
- -i Used for:
- Feminine nouns ending in -ia, ie. Kasia ("Katie") ? o Kasi ("about Katie"), Austria ? w Austrii ("in Austria")
- Feminine nouns ending in -sc, ie. milosc ("love") ? o milosci ("about love")
- -ach Used for plural nouns of all genders, ie. kobiety ("women") ? o kobietach ("about women")
- -ich / -ych Used for plural adjectives of all genders, ie. male sklepy ("small shops") ? w malych sklepach ("in small shops")
- -im / -ym Used for masculine and neuter singular adjectives, ie. polski jezyk ("Polish language") ? w polskim jezyku ("in the Polish language")
- -ej Used for feminine singular adjectives, ie. duza krowa ("big cow") ? o duzej krowie ("about a big cow")
Russian
In the Russian language, the locative case is often and recently called the prepositional case. This is because the case is only used after a preposition and not always used for locations, and other cases can be used for locations too, e.g. ? ????´ ("by window") - the genitive case. Statements such as "? ??????????" v biblioteke ("in library") or "?? ??????" na Aljaske ("in Alaska") show the usage for location. However, this case is also used after the preposition "?" ("about") as in "? ????????" o studente ("about the student").
Nevertheless a few words preserve a distinctive form of locative case: "?????? ? ?????´" lezhat? v snegu (to lie in the snow), but "?????? ? ?????" dumat? o snege (to think about snow). Other examples are ??? ray (paradise) - "? ???" in the paradise, ??? d?m (smoke) - "? ????´" v d?mú, ??? bok (side) - "?? ????´" na boku. The stress marks here signify that the stress is made on the last syllable, unlike the dative case that has the same spelling.
Sometimes the locative case is used only in stable word combinations, while prepositional is used in general - ??? dom (house), ?? ????="at house", only used to denote work activity (actually this is English "at home"), ?? ????="on the house" is used to denote roof on the house or such.
Armenian
In the Armenian language nouns take -??? (-um) for the locative form.
- ??????????? (hamsalaran?, the university) ? ?????????????? (hamalsaranum?, in/at the university)
- ??????? (chasharan, a restaurant) ? ?????????? (chasharanum, in/at a restaurant)
Turkic languages
Some Turkic languages have a locative.
Turkish
The locative case exists in Turkish. For instance, in Turkish, elim means my hand, and elimde means in my hand, so using -de and -da suffixes, the locative case is marked. -te, -ta and -da are the variations, depending on the sound of the root they suffix. Ex: kentte (in the city).
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.
Finno-Ugric languages
Some Finno-Ugric languages have a locative.
Inari Sami
In Inari Sami, the locative suffix is -st.
- kyeleest 'in the language'
- kiedast '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:
Gyorött (also Gyorben), 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.
Etruscan
The Etruscan language has a locative ending in -thi: velsnalthi, "at Velznani", with reference to Volsinii.
Algonkian languages
Algonkian languages have a locative.
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)
Bibliography
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