Concept
In linguistics, abessive (abbreviated or ), caritive and privative (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case expressing the lack or absence of the marked noun. In English, the corresponding function is expressed by the preposition without or by the suffix -less. The name abessive is derived from abesse "to be away/absent", and is especially used in reference to Uralic languages. The name caritive is derived from carere "to lack", and is especially used in reference to Caucasian languages. The name privative is derived from privare "to deprive". In the Somali language, the abessive case is marked by -laa or -la and dropping all but the first syllable on certain words. For example: jeceylaa "love" jeelaa "loveless" dar "clothes" dharla'aan "clothesless," i.e., naked In Martuthunira, the privative case is formed with either -wirriwa or -wirraa. In the Finnish language, the abessive case is marked by -tta for back vowels and -ttä for front vowels according to vowel harmony. For example: raha "money" rahatta "without money" An equivalent construction exists using the word ilman and the partitive: ilman rahaa "without money" or, less commonly: rahaa ilman "without money" The abessive case of nouns is rarely used in writing and even less in speech, although some abessive forms are more common than their equivalent ilman forms: tuloksetta "unsuccessfully, fruitlessly" Itkin syyttä. "I cried for no reason." The abessive is, however, commonly used in nominal forms of verbs (formed with the affix -ma- / -mä-): puhu-ma-tta "without speaking" osta-ma-tta "without buying" välittä-mä-ttä "without caring" Juna jäi tulematta. "The train didn't show up." This form can often be replaced by using the negative form of the verb: Juna ei tullut. "The train didn't show up." It is possible to occasionally hear what is considered wrong usage of the abessive in Finnish, where the abessive and ilman forms are combined: ilman rahatta There is debate as to whether this is interference from Estonian.