IE Inflectional - Derivational Correlations
Below is a list of all the grammatical (category) functions of the PIE and contemporary IE Case system(s) alongside examples of L-derivations with the same functions. Examples are given for Serbo-Croatian; however, the corresponding Case for Sanskrit and preposition for English are given in bold face type in parenthesis. "Possessivity (Genitive : of) indicates that the possessor was marked by the Genitive in Sanskrit (thus probably in PIE), and in English it is indicated by the preposition of.
The Serbo-Croatian grammatical marking for the given function is provided in brackets beside the Serbo-Croatian example. Since Sanskrit did not have a Possessional (Qualitative) Genitive, the Greek (Gk) is given; presumably it was an PIE function. The table does not imply a perfect correlation between the functions of Serbo-Croatian, Sanskrit Case, and English adpositions, only an overlap in the relevant one.
These functions were studied across 98 languages around the world. A sample language was taken from all language families (stocks). If language families contained subgroups that were widely disparate, e.g. English, French, and Russian, a sample of each subgroup was studied. These categories appear to be the same across all languages covered; that is, all languages selected from this set of categories and contained no other categories.
The categories are divided into (1) primary inflectional functions (those more commonly marked by case endings alone), (2) secondary inflectional functions (those more commonly marked by case + adposition), and (3) tertiary prepositional functions (adverbal prepositions without corresponding L-derivations).
I. Primary Inflectional Functions
INFLECTION FUNCTIONS (SKT: ENG)
1. Agent (Ergative: Not in IE Languages)
2. Patient (Absolutive: Not in IE Languages)
3. Subject (Nominative: Word Order)
covek radi [Nom]
"the-man works"
4. Object (Accusative: Word Order)
zatvorili su čovek-a [Acc]
"they-imprisoned the-man"
5. Possessivity (Genitive: of)
plave očii čovek-a [Gen]
"the-blue eyes of-the-man"
6. Possession ((Gk) Genitive: with/of)
čovek plav-ih o-čiju [Gen]
"a-man with-blue eyes"
7. Measure (Accusative: Word Order)
idemo pet kilometara [Ace]
"we-are-going five kilometers
8. Material (Genitive: (out) of)
sto od hrast-a [od+Gen]
"a-table from oak"
9. Partitivity (Genitive: of)
drvo od hrast-a [od+Gen]
"wood from an-oak"
meso od jagnj-et-a [od+Gen]
"meat from a-lamb"
10. Distinction (Ablative: than)
brž-e od konj-a [od+Gen]
"faster than a-horse"
11. Absolute (Ablative: Word Order)
12. Means (Instrumental: by/with)
žanje kos-om [Instr]
"he-reaps with-a-scythe"
13. Route (Instrumental: by/via)
ploviti mor-em [Instr]
"travel by-sea"
14. Manner (Ace/Instr: like)
živeti rob-om [Instr; kao+Norn]
"to-live like a-slave"
15. Ession (Ace/Instr: as)
raditi kao lekar [kao+Norn]
"to-work as a-doctor"
16. Duration (Instrumental: (for))
čitav-o let-o smo radili [Ace]
"the-whole summer we worked"
17. Iteration ( ... ?: (on) ... s)
nedelj-om idemo (u crkvu) [Instr]
"(on) Sunday(s) we go (to church)"
18. Accordance (Ablative: by)
po zakon-u [po+Loc]
"according to the law"
19. Purpose (Dative: to/for)
karte za igr-anj-e [za+Ace]
"cards for playing"
(platiti) za poštu [za+Acc]
"(pay) for the mail"
20. Exchange (? : for)
za pet dinara [za+Ace]
"(buy the book) for 5 dinars"
21. Cause (Ablative: from/out of)
pocrvenio je od stid-a [Various Ps]
"he blushed from shame"
22. Sociation (saha+Instrumental: with)
raditi sa covek-om [sa+Instr]
"to-work with a-person"
23a. Location (Place: at/in/on)
raditi u pekarnic-i [u+Loc]
"to-work at a-bakery"
23b. Location (Time: at/in/on)
u noc, u večer) [u+Acc]
"at night", "in the evening"
24. Goal (Accusative/Locative: to)
voz za Beograd [ulna/za+Ace]
"train for Beograde"
25. Origin (Ablative: from/of)
čovek iz Amerik-e [iz+Gen]
"a-person from America"
voz iz Beograd-a [iz+Gen]
"train from Belgrade"
LEXICAL DERIVATIONS
(Ergative languages have these)
(Ergative languages have these)
Subjective Nominals
rad-nik "worker"
Objective Nominals
zatvor-eni-niki
"prisoner"
Possessive Adjective
čovek-ov-e plave oči
"the-man's blue eyes"
Possessional Adjective
plav-o-ok čovek
"blue-eyed man"
Mensurative Nominals
kilometr-až-a
"kilometrage"
Material Nominals
hrast-ov sto
"oak(en) table"
Partitive Nominals
hrast-ov-ina
"oak (wood)"
jagnj-et-ina
"lamb (meat)"
[Specialized usage:
determined by
comparative adjectives]
[Sentence Adverbs]
Modalic Nominals
kos-ac
"reap-er" (machine)
Vialic Adjective
mor-sk-a (plovidba)
"sea (voyage)"
Similitudinal Adjective
rop-sk-i
"slav-ish"
Essive Adjective
lekar-sk-i
"doctor-Iy, medical"
Durative Adjective
let-nj-i raspust
"summer holidays"
Iterative Adjective
nedelj-n-a (misa)
"Sunday (mass)"
Accordant Nominals
zakon-it
"lawful"
Purposive Nominals
igr-ać-e kart-e
"playing cards"
pošt-ar-in-a "post-age"
Permutative
. ? .
. ? .
. ? .
Sociative Noun
co-rad-nik
"co-work-er"
Locative Nouns
rad-io-nic-a
"work-shop"
Relational Adjective
vecer-nje izdanje
"evening edition"
Goal Nominals
beograd-sk-i voz
"Belgrade train"
Originative Nominals
Amerik-an-ac
"(an) American"
beograd-sk-i voz"Belgrade train"
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