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Locative Case.

The locative case is used to express `location', `lack of motion', `containment in', and sometimes `means of transportation', e.g. ½öÓ×Á bas-le `by bus'. The locative marker is -leIn LT the locative case marker is ɧ and many traditional grammarians prefer to think of le as derived from ɧ with an additional `emphatic' ee Î added. In actuality, if emphasis is desired in modern Tamil another ee must be added (e.g. viittleyee `right in the house'), so this cannot be taken be a real occurrence of emphatic ee. Since most semantically locative case markers, postpositions, points of the compass, and deictic pronouns ( ange `there' etc.) show this ee in modern ST, it should probably be taken as a marker of location, and not emphasis. with inanimate nouns and -kitte with animates. With animate nouns it means `in the possession of, or in/on the person of'.

Examples of inanimate Nouns:

  1. ¾À£ maram `tree' + -le ¾À¢â×Á marattu-le `in the tree'.

  2. Èì aaru `river' + -le È¢â×Á aattu-le `in the river'.

  3. ÂÖà viidu `house' + -le ÂÖ¥à×Á viitt(u)le `in the house'.

  4. Ø´Ô¿Õ§ kooyil `temple' + -le Ø´Ô¿Õ§×Á kooyil-le `in the temple'.

  5. ¾âÙÀ madure `Madurai' + -le ¾âÙÀ×Á madure-y-le `in Maturai'.

Examples of animate nouns with kitte ´Õ¥×¹:

  1. ¼ÀÕ nari `fox' + kitte ¼ÀÕ´Õ¥×¹ nari-kitte `in the possession of the fox'.

  2. ¼Ô¨ naan `I' + kitte ͨ´Õ¥×¹ en-kitte `I have' (on my person).



Harold_F.Schiffman