Suffixaufnahme

Suffixaufnahme (German for "suffix-absorption") is a linguistic phenomenon whereby prototypically a genitive noun declines to match its head noun. It was first recognized in Old Georgian and some other Caucasian and ancient Middle Eastern languages as well as many Australian languages, and almost invariably coincides with agglutinativity.

A subject, for instance, would be marked with a subjective affix as well as a genitive affix. So, for example, in Old Georgian "perx-ni k'ac-isa-ni" (foot-NOM.PL man-GEN-NOM.Pl), the genitival noun phrase agrees in case (nominative) and number (plural) with the head noun.

However, while a possessive construction such as this is most frequently found in Suffixaufnahme, other nominal constructions may also show similar behavior. In Old Georgian, a postpositional phrase modifying a noun could take on that noun's case and number features: "Ra turpa prinvelia!" c'amoidzaxa ert-ma bavshv-ta-gan-ma " [one-NARR child-GEN.PL-from-NARR] , ("'What a wonderful bird!' exclaimed one of the children") where the narrative case "-ma" on "ertma" is copied onto the modifying postpositional phrase headed by "-gan".

Languages with Suffixaufnahme

Living languages

* Tsakhur
* Bats
* Kayardild
* Awngi (Central Cushitic, Afro-Asiatic)
* Yidiny (Pama-Nyungan, Australian)
* Chukchi (Chukchi-Kamchatkan)
* Gugu-Yalanji (spoken in Queensland, Australia)
* Thalanyji
* some dialects of Romany
* Kanyara
* Mantharta
* Basque
* Dyirbal

Dead languages

* Jiwarli
* Martuthunira

Ancient languages

* Old Georgian
* Elamite
* Hurrian
* Urartian
* Lycian
* Etruscan

ee also

* Grammar
* Genitive
* Declension

External links

* [http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/Kracht/html/suffixaufnahme.pdf Paper on suffixaufnahme] (in PDF format)
* [http://www.linguistlist.org/aristar/aufnahme.html Abstract to "Double Case: Agreement by Suffixaufnahme"]