The
instrumental case marker is -sa. This defines the instrument to carry
out the action or the cause of the action. The instrumental case suffix
is formally same as the nominative case suffix -sa but is semantically
distinct.
basa
ati-saskiyenes
‘we
see with eyes’
1 2
3
1
3
2
basa
kani-sa qonenes
we
hear with ears’
1
2
3
1
3
2
masa
kalam-sa zbRitiy:s
‘I
write with the pen’
1
2
3
1 3
2
Interestingly,
-i, an allomorph of the nominative case, is also used as the instrumental
case marker in free variation with -sa.
qataRpo-sa
khazas init
1
2
3
‘(he)
cut the fruit with a knife’
3
2
1
Ra:m-sa
qataR-sa khazas init
1
2 3
4
‘Ram
cut the fruit with a knife’
1
4 3
2
Ra:m-i
qataR-i khazas init
1
2
3 4
Ram
cut the fruit with a knife’
1
4
3
2
Sociative
Case:
The
societies case marker is cesium and it expresses the association or
accompaniment.
so
mo-cisuma ut 1 2
3
'he
came with me’
1 3
2
sa
ti-cisuma za:zit 1 2
3
‘she
walked with you’ 1 2
3
mo
ci-cisuma kRamit 1 2
3
‘I
worked with you’ 1 2
3
ti
te-cisuma ut 1 2
3
‘you
came with him’ 1 2
3
Genitive
Case:
The
genitive case marker defines the possessive relationship between two
nouns. The genitive case markers are -s and -n. -s is used the singular
noun and -n is used with the plural noun as in the following examples.
Note that the genitive nouns are not declined for gender as the adjectives.
tiga-s
khaRoti
‘woman’s basket’
bo-s kami:z
‘father’s shirt’
mumo-s doti
‘uncle’s dhoti’
sina-n gulusa
‘children’s clothes’
moleyo-n gulusa
‘girls’ clothes’
Ablative
Case:
The
ablative case marker is z.ono. The ablative case defines the source.
mo bunu-ono
yu:s
‘I am coming from the village’
1
4 3
2
1
4 3
2
alti-ono
vya ya:l
‘water comes from the roof’
1 2
3 4
3 4 2
1
ti sukulu-ono
ye
‘you come from the school’
1
2 3
4
1 4
3
2
Vocative
Case:
When
a third person’s attention is drawn by calling him the vocative case
marker is used with the third person noun. It has two allomorphs va
and li. va occurs when the noun is masculine as li occurs when the
noun is feminine. Unlike the other case markers the vocative case
marker is prefixed to the noun is feminine.
a
zane
ba
i-saskiyenes
enes
s
init
