New (not borrowed) case forms enter the nominal morphology through the affixation of adpositions, but such a development is possible only if the unmarked word order in the NP is either (a) (modifiers and/or numerals) N (postposition), or; (b) (preposition) N (modifiers and/or numerals).
Standardized
Case affixes can be grammaticalized from adpositions only if the noun is not separated from the adposition in the unmarked word order in the NP; i.e., if the unmarked order is either (a) (Modifiers and/or Numerals) N Postposition, or (b) Preposition N (Modifiers and/or Numerals).
To (a): Nivkh (isolate) (Panfilov 1974) and Sel’kup (S. Samoyedic, Uralic) (Bekker 1974), where a postposition may be reduced to a suffix while not being affixed exclusively to nouns.
1. Context (a) leads to suffixed and context (b) to prefixed morphemes.2. Kilby 1981: 130 comments that what might be claimed instead of (i) is really (ii), assuming the Kahr’s pattern (b) does not really occur and that Nivkh and Sel’kup are no anomalies: (i) Independent postpositions develop into “cases” if and only if they immediately follow the head noun of a noun phrase in all circumstances. (ii) Independent case markers develop into dependent case markers after noun phrases.
1. Context (a) leads to suffixed and context (b) to prefixed morphemes.2. Kilby 1981: 130 comments that what might be claimed instead of (i) is really (ii), assuming the Kahr’s pattern (b) does not really occur and that Nivkh and Sel’kup are no anomalies: (i) Independent postpositions develop into “cases” if and only if they immediately follow the head noun of a noun phrase in all circumstances. (ii) Independent case markers develop into dependent case markers after noun phrases.