Lative Case¶
A language-specific nominal case category associated with direction-to relations but licensed and extended by its own grammatical paradigm.
Core Idea¶
A lative case is a language-specific category of case-marked nominals characteristically associated with direction to a place. It is identified by its form, grammatical distribution, and contrasts within the language's case paradigm—not merely by an English “to” translation. Mari -еш and Tsez directional -r both receive lative analyses, but their morphology and range of uses differ.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
Scope of Application¶
Use the term in morphology and morphosyntax where an original grammar establishes a lative nominal form. Tsez has a directional lative series contrasted with static, source, and approximate-direction series. Mari lative is less frequent and more verb-restricted than illative; it also occurs with static-location, causal, temporal, predicative, and transport-related readings. A universal goal-only or fixed local-case triad definition would misclassify these facts.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
Clarity¶
Name the language, case-bearing noun, marked form, construction, and neighboring cases. The Vienna grammar's Mari sentence translated “Alya continued living in her old flat” contains a lative-marked flat despite the static English gloss. In Tsez, idu-r is glossed “(to) home”; LAT “to” is distinct from VERS “towards” in the grammar's table. Some Mari lative forms are homonymous with short illative forms, so spelling alone may not settle a token's case.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
Manages Complexity¶
The lative label summarizes a nominal case category while allowing several licensed constructions to share one form. That compression remains accurate only when language-specific inventories are retained: Mari has no dedicated “from where” case in its local-case set, whereas Tsez crosses multiple locational and directional series. Neither system can be projected wholesale onto the other.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
Abstract Reasoning¶
First confirm a case-marked nominal and its lative form. Next compare that form with the language's other cases. Then ask what the actual construction licenses—goal, static site, or documented extension. Replacing the case form can leave the scene intact while removing the lative instantiation; retaining the form in a different construction can preserve case identity without literal goal motion.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
Knowledge Transfer¶
Across languages transfer the questions of form, contrast and construction, not a universal suffix or use list. Mari's restricted and polyfunctional lative warns against a goal-only test; Tsez's LAT/ESS/ABL/VERS table shows how another language organizes directional contrasts. The proposed parent is Grammatical case; this draft and edge await independent review and do not change the live encyclopedia.[ref-bf582ef3516e][ref-cc6fb6445ee2]
[^ref-bf582ef3516e]: Timothy Riese, Jeremy Bradley and Tatiana Yefremova, Mari: An Essential Grammar for International Learners, University of Vienna (2022), §2.3.0 printed p.64 and §2.3.7 printed pp.84–87. [^ref-cc6fb6445ee2]: Bernard Comrie and Maria Polinsky, “Tsez”, author-posted original grammar sketch, §3.2.2 PDF pp.8–10.
Relationships to Other Abstractions¶
Current abstraction Lative Case Domain-specific
Parents (1) — more general patterns this builds on
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Lative Case is a kind of Grammatical case Domain-specific
A lative is a particular nominal case within a language's grammatical-case paradigm.
Hierarchy path (1) — routes to 1 parentless root
- Lative Case → Grammatical case → Grammar → System → Composition → Gestalt Principles → Holism
Neighborhood in Abstraction Space¶
Lative Case sits in a sparse region of the domain-specific corpus (81st percentile for distinctiveness): few abstractions share its structure, so a faithful description tends to retrieve it precisely.
Family — Grammatical Case & Reference (10 abstractions)
Nearest neighbors
- Dative Case — 0.85
- Prolative case — 0.84
- Equative case — 0.83
- Subessive Case — 0.83
- Bare Nouns — 0.81
Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08