Comitative case: Difference between revisions

In this case, ''{{lang|it|il professore''}} is the accompanier, ''{{lang|it|i suoi studenti''}} is the companion, and ''{{lang|it|con''}} is the relator. As the accompanier, ''{{lang|it|il professore''}} is the most prominent.

The comitative relates to an accompanier and a companion, and the instrumental relates to an [[agent (grammar)|agent]], an [[object (grammar)|object]], and a [[patient (grammar)|patient]].<ref name=Narrog>{{cite book|last=Narrog|first=Heiko|title=The Oxford Handbook of Case|year=2009|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|chapter=Varieties of Instrumental|editor-first1=Andrej |editor-last1=Malchukov and |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last2=Spencer|pages=593–600601–608}}</ref>{{rp|593}} Enrique Palancar defines the role of Instrumental case as <nowiki>'the role played by the object the Agent manipulates to achieve a change of state of the Patient.'</nowiki><ref>{{cite journal|last=Palancar|first=E. L.|year=1999|title=Instrumental Prefixes in Amerindian Languages: An Overview to their Meanings, Origin, and Functions|journal=Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung|volume=52|pages=151–166}}</ref> Even though the difference is straightforward, because the instrumental and the comitative are expressed the same way in many languages, including [[English language|English]], it is often difficult to separate them.

| 'I ||'ll go ||to in ||the cinema || with ||my mom.{{sc|instr'}}

In Russian, the comitative is marked by adding a preposition ''s''{{lang|ru|с}} and by declining the companion in the instrumental case; the design {{lang|ru|с мамой}} as a whole becomes comitative. In the instrumental case, the object is declined, but no preposition is added.<ref name=Heine&Kuteva />

The comitative case is often confused with the associative case. Before the term comitative was applied to the accompanier-companion relationship, the relationship was often called associative case, a term still used by some linguists.<ref>{{cite book|last=Haspelmath|first=Martin|title=The Oxford Handbook of Case|year=2009|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|editor-first1=Andrej |editor-last1=Malchukov and |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last2=Spencer|chapter=Terminology of Case|pages=514}}</ref>

Grammatical case is a category of inflectional morphology. The comitative case is an expression of the comitative semantic relation through inflectional [[affixation]], by [[prefix]]es, [[suffix]]es and [[circumfix]]es. Although all three major types of affixes are used in at least a few languages, suffixes are the most common expression. Languages which use affixation to express the comitative include [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], which uses suffixes; [[Totonac languages|Totonac]], which uses prefixes; and [[Chukchi language|ChuckchiChukchi]], which uses circumfixes.<ref name=Stolz2009 />{{rp|602}}

In Latvian, both instrumental and comitative are expressed with the preposition ''{{lang|lv|ar''}}<ref name=Stolz2006 />{{rp|102}} However, it is used only when the companion is in accusative and singular or when it is in dative and plural. Otherwise the co-ordinating conjunction ''{{lang|lv|un''}} is used.<ref name=Stolz2006 />{{rp|21}}

In Estonian, the Comitativecomitative (''{{lang|et|kaasaütlev''}}) marker is the suffix “{{lang|et|-ga”ga}}.<ref name=Stolz2006 />{{rp|90}}

In Finnish, the comitative case (''{{lang|fi|komitatiivi''}}) hasconsists of the suffix ''{{lang|fi|-ne''}} with adjectives and ''{{lang|fi|-ne-''}} + a mandatory [[possessive suffix]] with the main noun. There is no singular-plural distinction; only the plural of the comitative exists and is used in both singular and plural senses, and thus it appears always appears as ''{{lang|fi|-ine-''}}. For instance, "with their big ships" is

It is expressed through the suffix ''{{lang|se|-in''}} in Northernthe Sami,singular and is the same{{lang|se|-iguin}} in both singular andthe plural.

An example of the object use in Northern Sami is "{{lang|se|Dat láve álo riidalit isidi'''in''",'}} meaning "{{gloss|She always argues '''with''' her husband"}}. An example of the adverbial use is "{{lang|se|Mun čálán bleahka'''in''",'}} meaning "{{gloss|I write '''with''' ink"}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nickel|first=Klaus Peter|title=Samisk Grammatikk [no. |trans-title=Sami Grammar]|edition=2nd|year=1994|location=Karasjok, Norway|publisher=Davvi Girji|page=399}}</ref>

In Hungarian, comitative case is marked by the suffix "{{lang|hu|-stul/-stül"}}, as shown in the example below.<ref name=Kenesei>{{cite book|last1=Kenesei|last2=Vago|last3=Fenyvesi|first1=István|first2=Robert M.|first3=Anna|title=Hungarian|year=1998|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FbGclNrVEEAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q=comitative&f|pages=false212–213|pagesisbn=212–39780415021395}}</ref>

In the example, the circumfix га-{{circumfix|...}}ма is attached to the root {{lang|ckt|мэлгар}} "{{gloss|gun"}} to express comitative.

In [[Drehu language|Drehu]], there are two prepositions which can be used to mark comitative. Which of the prepositions is used is determined by the classes of the accompaneeaccompanier and companion.<ref name=Moyse-Faurie_Lynch>{{cite book|last1=Moyse-Faurie|last2=Lynch|first1=Claire|first2=John|author-link=Claire Moyse-Faurie|title=Coordinating Constructions|year=2004|location=Amsterdam; Philadelphia|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Co.|editor-first=Martin |editor-last=Haspelmath|chapter=Coordination in Oceanic languages and Proto Oceanic|pages=453}}</ref>

The comitative marker in [[Hausa language|Hausa]] is the preposition "{{lang|ha|dà"}}. In Hausa, a prepositional phrase marked for comitative can be moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis, as shown in the examples below.<ref name=Abdoulaye>{{cite book|last=Abdoulaye|first=Mahamane L.|title=Coordinating Constructions|year=2004|location=Amsterdam; Philadelphia|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Co.|editor-first=Martin |editor-last=Haspelmath|chapter=Comitative, coordinating, and inclusory constructions in Hausa|pages=180}}</ref>