Casally modulated preposition
Casally modulated prepositions are
Bigovernate prepositions in German
There exist a reasonable number of bigovernate prepositions in
Bigovernate prepositions in Latin
There are fewer bigovernate prepositions in
It has been suggested that the use of the ablative in this way arose on account of the merging of the locative and ablative cases.[2]
Polygovernate prepositions in Russian
Some prepositions in Russian are monogovernate, one such preposition being к 'towards' governing only the dative case. However, almost all prepositions govern two or even three cases.
As is the case in German and Latin, most spatial prepositions govern the locative case when there is no movement (some prepositions, however, govern the instrumental case). The same spatial prepositions govern the accusative case when their complement is the target of a movement:
- Я был в Риме I was in Rome (locative)
- Я иду в Рим I go to Rome (accusative)
- Яблоко лежало на земле The apple lay on the ground (locative)
- Яблоко упало на землю The apple fell on the ground (accusative)
- Птицы поют за дворцом Birds sing at the back of the palace (instrumental)
- Птицы улетели за дворец Birds flew to the back of the palace (accusative)
There are, however, prepositions whose meaning drastically changes when the case of their complement changes. The most frequently used such preposition is с(o), which means [together] with with the instrumental case, from with the genitive case and like with the accusative case:
- Он упал со стеной He fell down together with the wall (instrumental)
- Он упал со стены He fell from the wall (genitive)
- Он ростом со стену He is tall like a wall (accusative)
Note: The
Other less frequently-used bigovernate prepositions are по (dative for on, along and accusative for up to) and о(б) (
- По моим плечам ходили муравьи Ants walked on my shoulders (dative)
- Я стоял по плечи в муравейнике I was up to my shoulders in the anthill (accusative)
- О земле могу я много рассказывать About the Earth I can speak a lot (prepositional)
- Он ударился о землю He hit the Earth (accusative)
The preposition в(о) in normally governs either the locative or the accusative case, as with any other spatial preposition. However, when someone is elected, his post is the complement of the same preposition in the
- Дмитрий Медведев был выбран в президенты в 2008-ом году Dmitry Medvedev was elected a president in 2008
Polygovernate prepositions in Classical Greek
ἐπί means on with the genitive case, onto with the genitive case [dubious ] and in with the dative case.
References
Sources
- M.Spencer, M. McCrorie. Advanced German Grammar. London: Longman (2000).
- R.M.Griffin. Cambridge Latin Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1991).