ON DEVIANT CASE-MARKING IN LATIN^3131. The Latin data
Although the Latin case-marking system contains numerous irregularities,
the majority of verbs license the pattern typical of nominative-accusative
languages: subjects are coded by the nominative, direct objects by the
accusative. Among oblique arguments, indirect objects are coded by the
dative; nomináis representing "sources" are coded by a simple ablative or,
more commonly, by prepositional phrase whose head is the preposition ab and
whose complement is an ablative NP. (This coding alternation will receive
some attention below.) Examples of this pattern can be seen in (l)-(2).
(Verbal person inflection can, of course, fill the subject requirement that
would otherwise be met by a nominative argument, as in example (lc).)
(1) a. Sacerdos hostiam cecidit.
priest(N) victim(A) struck down
"The priest struck down the victim."
b. Cucurrit equus ferox.
ran horse(N) fierce(N)
"The fierce horse ran."
Opes suas auxit.
wealth(A) his OWII(A) (he) increased
"He increased his wealth."
d. Crescunt divitiae eius.
increased riches(N) him(G)
"His riches increased."
e. Omnia mundus continet.
allthings(A) world(N) contains
"The world contains all things."
(2) a. Populus Ciceroni immortalitatem donavit.
people(N) Cicero(ö) immortality(A) gave
"The people gave immortality to Cicero."
b. Natura nos ab ceteris animalibus separava.
nature(N) US(A) from other(Aß) animals(AB) separated
"Nature separated us from the other animals."
In addition to those verbs with regular case-marking, Latin contains several
groups of verbs displaying irregular case-patterns: inverse verbs whose