Prepositional case

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Prepositional case (also analytic case ) is a grammar term for a construction in which a preposition occurs in a function that is equivalent to a case marking .

A phenomenon that is sometimes taken under this name are the prepositional objects of German: 

Hanne verzweifelte an Maria  (an Maria = Präpositionalobjekt; an einem Kasusmarker vergleichbar)
Hanne bezweifelt den Sinn der Aktion   (den Sinn = direktes Objekt mit Akkusativ-Kasus)

In the first example, the preposition is required of the verb and marks the expression Maria as a supplement dependent on the verb. However, the preposition is not completely equivalent to a case marker, since it assigns a morphological case itself (namely dative, see: Whom does she despair of?).

In some languages, however, constructions with prepositions have evolved so that the preposition appears directly as a sign for the ruled case itself. In these cases the prepositions no longer have an independent meaning. Examples of this clearer form are e.g. B. Genitive constructions in some European languages ​​that are marked by separate words, such as the English of or the French de : 

frz. enfants de la patrie 'Kinder des Vaterlandes'
span. la casa de mis abuelos 'das Haus meiner Großeltern'
bulgar. akademíja na naúkite 'Akademie der Wissenschaften'
ital. le nozze di Figaro 'die Hochzeit des Figaro'
engl. grapes of wrath 'Früchte des Zorns'

Case markings of this kind are sometimes categorized as prepositions, but sometimes also as particles. There is disagreement in the literature as to whether the term 'case' should also be used for cases where the marking consists of a separate word; sometimes the term 'relator' is preferred for such a generalization (and terms like 'prepositional case' are avoided).

Web links

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  • Hauke ​​Bartels: On the competition between “pure case” and “preposition case”. In: Hauke ​​Bartels: dative or preposition. On the marking variation in the context of adjective predicates in German, Russian and Polish (= Studia Slavica Oldenburgensia. Vol. 12). Library and information system of the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 2005, ISBN 3-8142-0972-9 , pp. 14–59 (also: Oldenburg, Univ., Diss., 2004: Marking Variations . ).
  • Helmut Glück : Article prepositional case. In: Helmut Glück (Hrsg.): Metzler-Lexikon Sprache. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 2000, ISBN 3-476-01519-X .
  • Martin Haspelmath: Terminologies of Case In: A. Malchukov & A. Spencer (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Case , Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 505–517 (manuscript version 2006 available online)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Haspelmath (2006), p. 2