Votian/Terminative

Terminative
=== Postposition ===

Phonological history and morphophonology

 * This kind of Votian, Ingrian,  Livvi Karelian  and  Vepsian   terminative marker  has been developed from a  postposition , which is still used by other  Baltic Finnic dialects with  illative  or  allative  e.g.  Finnish   tä-hän  saakka   (" until  this ~ here" ), raja-lle  saakka   (" until  the border " )
 * In Votian dialects  it still contains an  illative  marker
 * in singular  mahāssā  (" ground ")
 * in plural (  laulomisīssā  = " singing "), it usually follows a  short  plural genitive.
 * In rare cases it smay contain an allative  marker
 * e.g. singular  bābuškaллē̮ssā  (" to the grandmother ")

Thus any terminative is in the same grade  as  genitive.

'' Many linguists of the 19. and 20. century marked this kind of terminative as a postposition  rather than a case. ''
 * Because this morpheme  followed even  doubled illative  e.g.  kotōse ssā  (" till home "),   wäsümǟse ssā  (" till fatigue ")

Pronunciation

 * The terminative suffix is pronounced  -ssā . It does not vary according to vowel harmony e.g.  лe̮una-'n saak >  лe̮unāssā  ("lunchtime" singular terminative ),  mätše-'n saak'  >  mätšēssā  ('hill' singular terminative ),  me̮лe̮pe̮-i'n saak'  >  me̮лe̮pīssā'  ('both' plural terminative )

Agreement

 * Unlike in most of the other cases in terminative there is no agreement  between adjectives and nouns in case, but a noun follows an adjective in  genitive,  illative  or  allative  e.g.  puisìje̮ rattīssā  (' wooden barn ' plural terminative).

Usage
Terminative may express
 * 1)  timeline  - e.g.  e̮limma pe̮ллoллa лe̮unāssā    (' We were on the field until noon .'),  puлmia mändžittī ōmnikkōssā    (' The weddings were held until morning .'),  e̮limma eittsezä vaлge̮tikkōssā    (' We were herding till sunrise .'),  tämä e̮li e̮nne̮va vanāssā i surmāssā    (' He was happy till his old age and death .')
 * 2)  limit  and  destination - e.g.  vad́d́aлaisī tšüliä on   л a u k ā s s ā  (' There are Votic villages up to Lauga river .'),  kanava menep   ̮ k a t t i л a л л ē̮ s s ā  (' The canal continues till Kattila village .'),  anna miллe̮   babuškaллē̮ssā tšävvä  (' Let me go to my grandmother! '),  jōhsi kotōssā  ("She ran until home.")
 * 3)  limit  and  degree - e.g.  on täünnǟ pōлē̮ssā  ("It's half filled."),  tšävi ke̮лmē̮   ke̮rtāssā  ("She went three times."),  sȫ ke̮ikke̮a e̮ttsāssā  ("Eat it all!")

Dialectal alternatives

 * Votic of Ingria
 * Eastern Votic dialect
 * The final -k is pronounced as -G in Eastern Votic dialect. All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia have lost the phoneme *k in the end of words e.g.  siлtāssāG  ("until a bridge"),  mettsǟssāG   ("until a forest"),   kreipostīssāk̄     ("until a fortress")  Itšäpäivä dialect.

=== Other Finnic dialects ===


 * Finnish dialects : maa-han saakka (" to the ground ")
 * Livvi Karelian dialects : lag-essah (" to the ceiling ")
 * Vepsian dialects : ma-hasse̮i  (" to the ground ")
 * Ingrian dialects : mā-hāssa  (" to the ground ")
 * Standard Estonian : ma-ha saati (" to the ground ")