Page:An Ainu-English-Japanese dictionary (including a grammar of the Ainu language).djvu/643

Rh instead of saying, “I possess a father,” one says, , “to me there is a father,” the word “father” is no longer a possessed object, but a subject who indicates his possessor. Compare the Russian, French, and Latin constructions: У нею́ оте́цъ есть; tibi est pater, mihi est uxor; and ce livre est a moi, and so on.

There are certain prepositional particles such as, , , (each in its turn always retaining its own special definite root-meaning—for in the Ainu language there are no expletives) which in a way, may be regarded as indicating case. Thus:


 * {| style="width: 100%;"


 * style="width: 50%;" |, “the sea-shore,”
 * style="width: 50%;" |, “to the sea-shore.”
 * , “the sea-shore,”
 * , “from the sea-shore.”
 * , “to run away,”
 * , “to flee to.”
 * , “to run away,”
 * , “to run away with.
 * }
 * , “to run away,”
 * , “to run away with.
 * }

When, addressing relations the words and  and  are sometimes heard used in a complimentary or carressingcaressing [sic] way. Thus:—