Spatial orientations

Abstract

Whereas the dative and ablative case markers are primarily used in combination with verbs denoting movement to and from some object, the locative signifies that all movement is absent. This natural relation justifies a simultaneous discussion of these case forms in deictic pronouns. These markers play a crucial role in expressions based on the genitive-possessive construction applied to nouns denoting a space. Such constructions fulfil the same job as prepositional phrases in other languages. Interestingly, these space nouns are used as pure adjectives as well, and in the final sections two other peculiarities are illustrated. Besides a fully fledged genitive-possessive construction, for metaphorical usage there is a construct without the genitive, the possessive part of which has much in common with a postposition. Secondly, adverbial phrases based on nouns denoting some location have come into existence in a similar way.