--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" <gs001ns@...> wrote:
> aquila_grande wrote:
>
> >An example is finnish.
> >
> >eX, käsi - hand(n.sg), käde-n (acc.sg) ihminen -
> >human beeing (n.sg) ihmise-n (acc.sg) jänis -
> >hare (n.sg) jänikse-n (acc.sg)
> >
> >avain - key (n.sg.) avaime-n (acc.sg)
>
> It seems to me that the Finnish -n has
> the same function as -(vowel)t in Hungarian.
>
> But in the Finnish examples above I see
> serious changes caused by the accusative.
>
> George
Finding the stem in Finnish is not always obvious. There is
something called the "change of degree". As an example the word for
water;
0 degree nominative sing vesi (unmarked)
1st. degree genitive sing vede-n (stem vede)
2nd. degree essive sing - vete-nä (stem vete)
3rd. degree partitive sing - vet-tä (stem vet)
Most other common cases can be formed knowing these stems. In fact
many cases use the second degree stem plus the regular case endings.
Not all words behave this way. Often the stems are the same for all
degrees.
0 koira = dog
1 koira-n = dog's
2 koira-na = as a dog
3 koira-a = one of a collection, or a part of a dog.
As for the accusative, some will argue that Finnish retains the
accusative in only 7 pronouns with the case ending of t.
For the majority grammarians, however the accusative ending is the
same as the nominative or genitive.
Peter P