Equative is a case prototypically expressing the standard of comparison of equal values ("as… as a …"). The equative case has been used in very few languages in history. It was used in the
Sumerian language, where it also took on the semantic functions of the
essive case
In grammar, the essive case, or similaris case, ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case.O'Grady, William, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Janie Rees-Miller. "Morphology: The Analysis of Word Structure." Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. 6t ...
("in the capacity of…") and
similative case ("like a…").
For Sumerian, the equative was formed by adding the suffix -gin
7 to the end of a noun phrase. In its similative function:
For
Ossetic
Ossetian (, , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete (), is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Greater Caucasus. It is the native language of the Ossetia ...
it is formed by the ending -ау
w
It is found subdialectally in some speakers of the
Khalkha
The Khalkha (Mongolian script, Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongols, Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos Mongols, Ordos and Tum ...
dialect of
Mongolian, where it is formed by the endings -цаа
saa -цоо
soo -цээ
seeor -цөө
söö depending on the
vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, mea ...
of the noun. It is quite rare and very specific, referring to the height or level of an object:
It is also found in the
Turkic Khalaj language and in languages from South America like
Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
,
Aymara
Aymara may refer to:
Languages and people
* Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language
** Aymara language, the main language within that family
** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...
,
Uro and
Cholón.
Welsh, though it has no equative case of nouns, has an equative degree of adjectives, shown normally by the suffix ''-ed'': for example, "''hyned''" (''â'' ...), meaning "as old" (as ...).
had an equative (or comparative) case for describing similarities between nouns.
See also
*
List of grammatical cases
This is a list of grammatical cases as they are used by various inflectional languages that have declension.
This list will mark the case, when it is used, an example of it, and then finally what language(s) the case is used in.
Place and tim ...
References
External links
SIL definition of equative case
{{Grammatical cases
Grammatical cases