The accusative absolute is a
grammatical construction In linguistics, a grammatical construction is any syntax, syntactic string of words ranging from Sentence (linguistics), sentences over phrase structure rules, phrasal structures to certain complex lexemes, such as phrasal verbs.
Grammatical constr ...
found in some languages. It is an
absolute construction In linguistics, an absolute construction is a grammatical construction standing apart from a normal or usual syntactical relation with other words or sentence elements. It can be a non-finite clause that is subordinate in form and modifies an entir ...
found in the
accusative case
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
.
Greek
In
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, the accusative case is used
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
ially with
participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s of
impersonal verb
In linguistics, an impersonal verb is one that has no determinate subject. For example, in the sentence "''It rains''", ''rain'' is an impersonal verb and the pronoun ''it'' does not refer to anything. In many languages the verb takes a third per ...
s, similarly to the
genitive absolute
In Ancient Greek grammar, the genitive absolute is a grammatical construction consisting of a participle and often a noun both in the genitive case, which is very similar to the Latin grammar#Ablative absolute, ablative absolute in Latin. A genitiv ...
. For example:
German
In
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, a noun phrase can be put in the accusative to indicate that the sentence's subject has the property it describes.
[Duden 4, ''Die Grammatik'', 5th edition (1995), p. 624] For example:
{{interlinear, lang=de, indent=2
, Neben ihm saß der dünnhaarige Pianist, den Kopf im Nacken, und lauschte.
, {next to} him sat the thin-haired pianist the-MASC.ACC.SG head {in the} neck and listened
, "The thin-haired pianist, his head back ({{lit his head in his neck), sat next to him and listened."
Latin
The accusative absolute is sometimes found in place of the
ablative absolute
Latin syntax is the part of Latin grammar that covers such matters as word order, the use of cases, tenses and moods, and the construction of simple and compound sentences, also known as ''periods''.
The study of Latin syntax in a systematic way ...
in the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
of
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
as, for example, in the writings of
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
and
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...
. This likely arose when the pronunciations of the ablative and accusative singulars merged, since the final ''-m'' of the accusative singular was no longer pronounced, having been fading since the Classical era. The accusative absolute is also found with plural nouns whose ablative and accusative are not similar in pronunciation.
Sources
Grammar
Greek grammar
German grammar