Re: Rromei-Geldyghei lyngvei (Roman-Celtic langs)

[Nik Taylor <fortytwo@UFL.EDU>]

Sam Bryant wrote:

> In 1st and 2nd declension nouns, it is like the genitive. Otherwise, it's like
> the ablative. But just because it's always like another case doesn't mean it
> isn't it's own case -- it has meaning quite different from the gen and abl.
> Anyway, for every noun, the dative and ablative plural are the same. Does that
> mean dative or ablative don't exist and seperate cases in the plural? No, you
> just have to figure out which one it is.

True, but the dative and ablative *singular* forms are different.  If
they were also identical, then they would be a single case.  To put it
another way, the possessive in "My foot had to be amputated" and "My
illness made me miss class" are quite different, but still the same
case.  Using your argument, one could say that English still has
accusative and dative forms, just because they happen to be identical to
the nominative doesn't make them the same case, yes?

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