Nota accusativi
Nota accusativi is a grammatical term for a particle (an uninflected word) that marks a noun as being in the accusative case. An example is the use of the word a in Spanish before an animate direct object: Jorge lleva a su gato (Jorge carries his cat).
Esperanto
Officially, in Esperanto, the suffix letter "n" is used to mark an accusative. But a few modern speakers use the unofficial preposition "na" instead of the final "n".
- Mi havas domon.
- Mi havas na domo.
- I have a house.
Hebrew
In Hebrew the preposition אֶת et is used for definite nouns in the accusative. Those nouns might be used with the definite article (ה Ha "the"). Otherwise, the object is modified by a possessive pronominal suffix, by virtue of being a nomen regens within a genitive phrasing, or as a proper name. To continue with the Hebrew example:
Ani ro'eh et ha-kelev. אני רואה את הכלב
I see the dog.
Ani ro'eh et kalbi. אני רואה את כלבי
I see my dog.
Ani ro'eh et kelev Dani'el. אני רואה את כלב דניאל
I see Daniel's dog.
Ani ro'eh et Dani'el. אני רואה את דניאל
I see Daniel.
On the other hand, "I see a dog" is simply "Ani ro'eh kelev." אני רואה כלב [1]
This example is obviously a specialized use of the nota accusativi, since Hebrew does not use the nota accusativi unless the noun is in the definitive.
Japanese
In Japanese, the particle "を" (pronounced "お" o) is the direct object marker and marks the recipient of an action.
Korean
In Korean, the postposition "을" (pronounced "eul") or "를" (pronounced "reul") is the direct object marker and marks the recipient of an action. For example:
나는
Naneun
라면을
ramyeoneul
먹었다.
meogeotda.
I ate ramen.
"을" is used when the previous syllable ("면 (myeon)" in this case) is closed, i.e. when it ends with a consonant ("ㄴ (n) in 면 (myeon)" in this case).
나는
Naneun
나비를
nabireul
보았다.
boatda.
I saw a butterfly.
"를" is used when the previous syllable ("비 (bi)" in this case) is open, i.e. when it ends with a vowel ("l (i) in 비 (bi)" in this case).
Toki Pona
In Toki Pona, the word e is used to mark accusative.
Other languages
Nota accusativi also exists in Armenian, Greek and other languages.
In other languages, especially those with grammatical case, there is usually a separate form (for each declension if declensions exist) of the accusative case. The nota accusativi should not be confused with such case forms, as the term nota accusativi is a separate particle of the accusative case.
See also
References
- Bubeník, Vít (2006). From Case to Adposition: The Development of Configurational Syntax in Indo-European Languages. John Benjamins. p. 54. ISBN 90-272-4795-1.