A Comparative study of the Genitive and Locative Cases in Tamil and Sinhala

A Comparative Study of the Genitive and Locative Cases in Tamil and Sinhala

Dr. Narayanan Mallikadevi

Department of Language Skills Development Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.908000434

Received: 11 August 2025; Accepted: 18 August 2025; Published: 15 September 2025

ABSTRACT

Tamil and Sinhala are members of the Asian language family and both are official languages in Sri Lanka. As morphologically rich languages, they express grammatical variations in both nouns and verbs through agglutinative and inflectional features. While Tamil and Sinhala share certain linguistic and lexical similarities, they also differ due to the unique characteristics of each language. Accordingly, both the affixation of case markers and the way nouns convey meaning through them in Tamil and Sinhala reveal notable similarities and differences. This study aims to examine the genitive and locative cases in the written forms of Tamil and Sinhala, and to explore how case markers are used in each language to express meaning. A qualitative approach was adopted, employing the observation method, with data collected from secondary sources to identify the case markers associated with these grammatical cases. The hypothesis of the research is that in Tamil, the genitive and locative cases have distinct case markers to indicate the grammatical form of the noun. In contrast, Sinhala uses the same case markers for both the genitive and locative cases to express the grammatical meaning of the noun.

Keywords: Bound forms, Case markers, Genitive case, Locative case, Sinhala, Tamil.

INTRODUCTION

Case refers to the grammatical function of a noun or pronoun, indicating its relationship with other words in a sentence. Grammarians of Tamil and Sinhala have described cases and case makers from various perspectives based on the usage of Tamil and Sinhala from time to time. This research discusses the genitive and locative cases based on the current usage of Tamil and Sinhala. Except for the nominative case, each case in Tamil and Sinhala is marked by its own specific case marker. Similarly, the genitive and locative cases are formed by attaching case markers to nouns to convey their grammatical meaning. This study investigates the types of case markers used with the genitive and locative cases in Tamil and Sinhala and aims to clarify how these markers function in both cases.

DISCUSSION

The genitive case is used to indicate possession or a relationship between two nouns. In both Tamil and Sinhala, suffixes or bound forms are used to express this relationship. Based on the observed data, it has been identified that the usage of genitive case markers differs between the two languages.

In modern Tamil, the genitive case markers -iṉ, -uṭaiya, and -atu are attached to both animate and inanimate nouns, in both singular and plural forms. In Sinhala, the genitive case is marked by suffixes such as -gē, -ē, -ehi, and -vala. Singular and plural animate nouns in Sinhala typically inflect with the genitive marker -gē. In contrast, singular inanimate nouns are marked with -ē or –ehi, while plural inanimate nouns take the genitive marker -vala.

Using genitive case markers for singular animate nouns in Tamil and Sinhala

In the Tamil language, in certain contexts, the bound forms -uṭaiya and -atu appear together with the link morpheme -in to convey the same genitive meaning. For example,

Using genitive case markers for plural animate nouns in Tamil and Sinhala

In the above table, the Tamil inflected noun kiḷikaḷatu or kiḷikaḷuṭaiya can also be written using the link morpheme -iṉ, resulting in forms like kiḷikaḷiṉatu or kiḷikaḷiṉuṭaiya. This is an optional form.

In Sinhala, when the genitive case marker -gē is added to the plural form of animate nouns, the original plural form of the noun undergoes a change. Specifically, the plural form of the noun typically ends with the sound –uṉ or -aṉ before the genitive marker -gē is attached.

Using genitive case markers for neuter nouns in Tamil and Sinhala

In the above examples, in Tamil, three types of case markers are used for singular neuter nouns. In Sinhala, two types of case markers are used. Besides, in Sinhala, when attaching case markers to singular nouns, the final phoneme of the singular noun will be deleted.

Using case markers for plural neuter nouns

In Tamil, the same genitive case markers -iṉ, -uṭaiya, or -atu—are used for both animate singular and plural forms of nouns. These markers are attached to the plural form of the noun to indicate the genitive case with a plural meaning. In contrast, in Sinhala, to express the plural form in the genitive case, distinct case markers such as -vala or -hi are used with the plural forms of neuter nouns.

In Tamil, the same case markers are used to express both singular and plural forms in the genitive case. However, in Sinhala, separate case markers such as -vala or -hi are attached to neuter nouns to indicate plural notions in the genitive case. This shows that, unlike Tamil, Sinhala uses different case markers with plural forms to express the genitive case.

The locative case is a grammatical case that indicates the location or place where something happens, exists, or is situated. In both Tamil and Sinhala, distinct case markers are used for animate and neuter nouns in the locative case.

In Tamil, the locative is typically formed by adding the case marker –il or –ilē to neuter nouns. For animate nouns, the bound form –iṭam is used to indicate location.

In Sinhala, the locative case for singular neuter nouns is marked by –ehi or –ē. For plural or collective nouns, the locative is expressed using vala or –hi.

Notably, in Sinhala, the locative forms of both singular and plural neuter nouns often resemble those of the genitive case in structure – meaning that the same case markers (such as -ē and -ehi for singular neuter, and -vala or -hi for plural neuter) are used in both genitive and locative constructions, with the intended meaning understood from context.

For animate nouns in Sinhala, the bound forms laňga or satuva are used as locative markers, depending on context and formality. However, traditional Sinhala grammar does not mention specific case markers for animate nouns; case markers are provided only for neuter nouns.

Locative case markers for singular neuter nouns in Tamil and Sinhala

Based on the above chart, it can be observed that Tamil uses different case markers for neuter singular nouns to indicate the genitive and locative cases. However, in Sinhala, the same case markers are used for both cases. For clear understanding, lets, look at some sentence patterns using genitive and locative case markers in both languages.

இந்தப் புத்தகத்தின் விலை என்ன?  (inta puttakattiṉ vilai eṉṉa?)

මෙම පොතේ / පොතෙහි මිල කීයද? (mema potē / potehi mila kīyada?)

What is the price of this book?

இந்தப் புத்தகத்தில் எத்தனை பக்கங்கள் உள்ளன?  (inta puttakattil ettaṉai pakkaṅkaḷ uḷḷaṉa?)

මෙම පොතේ / පොතෙහි පිටු කීයක් තියෙනවද? ( mema potē / potehi piṭu kīyak tiyenavada?)

How many pages are in this book?

Locative case markers for plural neuter nouns in Tamil and Sinhala

In Tamil, the locative case markers used for plural neuter nouns are the same as those used for singular neuter nouns, namely -il or -ilē.

In Sinhala, however, the locative case markers for plural neuter nouns are -vala or -hi, which are also used for the genitive case in plural neuter nouns.

According to the above examples, similar case markers are used for both singular and plural notions in Tamil. However, in Sinhala, two different case markers are used for singular and plural nouns.

Locative case – animate nouns

In both Tamil and Sinhala, bound forms are attached to nouns to indicate the locative case. In Tamil, the case marker -iṭam is attached to animate nouns. Additionally, to enhance the beauty or stylistic quality of a sentence, the bound forms such as -iṭattē, -iṭattil, and -iṭattilē are also used in certain contexts.

In Sinhala, although traditional grammarians did not specify case markers for animate nouns, in modern usage, the bound form satuva is employed with animate nouns to convey a meaning equivalent to the Tamil locative case. In spoken Sinhala, the bound form laňga is commonly used instead.

In Tamil, the locative case markers -il or -ilē are primarily attached to neuter nouns. However, in certain contexts, they are also used with animate nouns to express feelings or emotions. For example,

உன்னிடத்தில் / உன்னிடத்திலே எனக்கு நம்பிக்கை உண்டு.

uṉṉitattil / uṉṉitattilē eṉakku nampikkai uṇṭu.

I have trust in you.

CONCLUSION

This comparative study of the genitive and locative cases in Tamil and Sinhala reveals both similarities and differences. A key similarity is that both languages use suffixes as case markers to modify the grammatical meaning of nouns. However, a significant difference lies in how each language distinguishes between the genitive and locative cases.

In Tamil, distinct and consistent case markers are used to differentiate between these cases. The genitive case is primarily expressed through suffixes such as -iṉ, -uṭaiya, and -atu, while the locative case is marked by -il and -ilē for neuter nouns, and -iṭam or its variants for animate nouns. These markers are applied systematically across both singular and plural forms, with occasional optional variations involving link morphemes.

In contrast, Sinhala uses the same case markers-such as -gē, -ē, -ehi, -vala, and -hi-for both genitive and locative functions. The marker -gē is specifically used for the genitive case with animate nouns, while -ē and -ehi can denote both genitive and locative meanings for neuter singular nouns. For animate nouns in locative contexts, Sinhala employs bound forms such as satuva and laňga, especially in modern usage.

Overall, Tamil maintains a clear morphological distinction between the genitive and locative cases, whereas Sinhala merges these functions through shared markers, relying more on contextual interpretation. These differences reflect broader typological traits: Tamil emphasizes structural clarity and morphological consistency, while Sinhala allows greater flexibility and contextual dependency. The findings of this study highlight the grammatical diversity within South Asian languages and underscore the importance of language-specific analysis when comparing morphosyntactic features across related yet distinct linguistic systems.

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