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The dative case marker

The dative case marker is Ë¡Þ ukku except after front vowels, where it takes the shape (²)¡´Õ (y)kki . After pronominal stems whose oblique form consists of a CVC only, the dative case has the form Ç¡Þ akku:

  1. ¾À£ maram `tree' + ukku ¾À¢â¡Þ marattukku `to the tree'

  2. Èì aaru `river' + ukku È¢â¡Þ aattukku `to the river'.

  3. ÂÖà viidu `house' + ukku ÂÖ¥à¡Þ viittukku `to the house'

  4. ¾â×À madure `Madurai' + ykki ¾â×À²¡´Õ madureykki `to Madurai'

  5. Ø´Ô¿Õ§ kooyil `a temple'+ ukku Ø´Ô¿Õè¡Þ kooyilukku `to the temple'

  6. ¼ÀÕ nari `fox' + ykki ¼ÀÕ¡´Õ narikki `to the fox'

  7. ¼Ô¨ naan `I' + akku ÍÆ¡Þ enakku `to me'.

As mentioned above, certain postpositions such as ½¡´¢â×Á pakkattule `near, in the vicinity of' govern the choice of the dative case. (Cf. section 2.3)

Syntactically, the dative is used to express possession, motion toward, benefaction to, and possession of states expressed by stative verbs (cf. section ??)


Harold_F.Schiffman