Semblative case

The semblative case is a grammatical case that denotes the similarity of one entity to another.

In Wagiman

Wagiman, an indigenous Australian language, has a semblative case suffix -yiga, that is functionally identical to the -like suffix in English, as in the example:

gahan

that

mamin

white man

dup-pa

sit-ASP

ga-yu

3SG-be

jilimakkun-yiga

woman-SEMBL

gahan mamin dup-pa ga-yu jilimakkun-yiga

that {white man} sit-ASP 3SG-be woman-SEMBL

That white man sits like a woman

In English

English has a number of semblative derivational suffixes, including -like and -esque.

Texas Man Catches Fish With Human-Like Teeth [1]

However, as in many other languages, semblativity in English is marked with derivational affixes instead of being an inflectional case.

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-08-16. Retrieved 2006-07-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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