ablativelocative

Ablativelocative is a term used in linguistic typology to describe a grammatical case that combines ablative and locative functions into a single morphological category. It denotes both source or motion away from a reference point (ablative) and location or position (locative). The term is most often used descriptively to discuss languages whose morphology or syntax conflates these two semantic domains, or in diachronic scenarios where the distinct ablative and locative forms appear to merge.

In typological literature, ablativelocative is treated as an analytic option rather than a universal feature; it is not widely attested as a standard category across many languages. When described, such a case may surface as a single form affixed to nominals or as a clitic or postposition, and its exact interpretation is frequently determined by context, verb semantics, or accompanying particles. Some analyses distinguish whether the case primarily expresses motion away or location by considering lexical and syntactic cues, while others describe the form as a fused or ambiguous marker that covers both senses.

The existence of an ablativelocative category has implications for the organization of a language’s case system, as it reduces the need for separate ablative and locative morphemes and instead encodes multiple spatial relations within one form. Alternative analyses may interpret such data as evidence for closely related but distinct cases that are unified in certain environments.

See also: Ablative, Locative, Case (linguistics), Spatial semantics.