On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 20:34:49 +0000, "Sergejus Tarasovas
<
S.Tarasovas@...>" <
S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:
>--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Howey <andyandmae_howey@...>
>wrote:
>> My original question was about the number of grammatical cases in
>(Late) PIE. Is the general consensus on the number of cases indeed
>eight? Can it be determined when these cases developed and why so
>many?
>
>Not that I've got nothing to say, but there are definitely much more
>competent (and professional) members on the list (Jens, Piotr,
>Miguel, Glen, to name just a few). It would be very interesting to
>know their opinion on the issue.
I don't think there can be any doubt that in Late PIE, there were
eight cases, at least in the maximal case of the singular of the
o-stem declension. The ablative is not found much outside the o-stems
(or the pronouns). There were generally 6 cases in the plural (Nom,
Acc, Gen, Dat, Loc, Ins), and 3 or 4 in the dual (Nom/Acc, Gen/Loc (or
Gen, Loc), Dat/Abl/Ins).
Eight cases is not really that many: pre- and postpositions were still
necessary to express shades of meaning not spelled out by the case
forms. Still, I think there is reason to think the 8 case system grew
out of an earlier 6-case system, dative/locative and
ablative/instrumental having been at an earlier stage
undifferentiated.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...