case: case marking
Classical Armenian uses combinations of inflectional case forms and adpositions to express semantic case. In UD, adpositions are treated as dependents of the nominal, to which they are attached. The relation between the nominal and the adposition is labelled case.
ի Գաղիղեա \n into Galilee
case(Գաղիղեա, ի)
Classical Armenian has prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. Prepositions can be simplex or multiword expressions. In case of multiword expressions, the subsequent word(s) is linked to the first one by the fixed relation.
ի վերայ նորա \n on him
case(նորա, ի)
fixed(ի, վերայ)
A complex preposition can be disrupted by a head noun, in which case it turns into a circumposition and its component words are linked to the head nominal by the case relation.
յ որոյ վերայ քաղաքն նոցա շինեալ էր \n on which their city had been built
case(որոյ, յ)
case(որոյ, վերայ)
A special case of complex adpositions are combinations of prepositional construction with demonstrative local adverbs that reinforce the meaning of the construction. When used in this function, local adverbs are tagged ADP, linked to the modified nominal by the case relation, and function as constituents of circumposition.
էջ ի լեռնէ անտի \n he came down from the mountain
case(լեռնէ, ի)
case(լեռնէ, անտի)
When a noun phrase contains a modifier, prepositions can be repeated before each of the constituents of the noun phrase (see Meyer 2023). By convention when a noun phrase with an adnominal modifier contains only one preposition, the latter is linked to the head of the noun phrase by the case relation. When the preposition is repeated, its instances are linked by the case relation to the nominal head and its modifier.
ընդ այն ճանապարհ \n by that way
case(ճանապարհ, ընդ)
det(ճանապարհ, այն)
ընդ աւուրս ն ընդ այնոսիկ \n in those (in) days
case(աւուրս, ընդ)
case(այնոսիկ, ընդ)
det(աւուրս, այնոսիկ)
det(աւուրս, ն)
References
Jensen, Hans. 1959. Altarmenische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.
Klein, Jared. 2017. The syntax of Armenian. In: J. Klein et al. (eds.), Handbook of comparative and historical Indo-European linguistics. Berlin, Boston: Walter de Gruyter: 1097‒1115.
Meyer, Robin. 2023. Die Präfixaufnahme von z= im Altarmenischen. Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies 2: 41-58.
case in other languages: [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [et] [fi] [fr] [ga] [gsw] [gub] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [ky] [no] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ro] [ru] [sl] [ssp] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]