The associative case (abbreviated ASS) is a grammatical case which expresses associativity which is, although related, not identical to comitativity, which is expressed by using the comitative case.
Associativity is a grammatical category which expresses the meaning "X and the group (of one or more members) associated with X", where X is a nominal, typically of human reference. An example:
- Hungarian János-ék meaning "John and associates / John and his group / John and them",
- Japanese Tanaka-tachi meaning "Tanaka and associates / Tanaka and his group / Tanaka and them".
Associations in English can be identified by words such as "with", or "along with". This is not to be confused with the instrumental case, which also can be translated into English as "with", but which expresses the notion of the means by which an action was done.
References
- Cysouw, M. (2003). The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking. Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory. OUP Oxford. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-19-925412-5. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- "Associativity". Grammatical Features. 11 June 1994. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- Schiffman, Harold F. (1979). A Grammar of Spoken Tamil. The Christian Literature Society. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
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