2. The adessive-dative occurs most frequently as the possessor NP in a possessive sentence. The standard view contends that the possessor NP in a possessive sentence should be regarded as a locative expression: the possessive sentence is a special kind of existential sentence meaning 'something exists in the sphere of someone'. This explanation of the possessive sentence takes for granted the very assumption that the adessive in present-day Estonian is a locative case in its primary function.

There is a significant difference between the possessor NP in a possessive sentence and the adessive NP of place in an existential sentence: the adessive NP in an existential sentence can as a rule be replaced by a postpositional phrase, whereas the adessive NP in a possessive sentence generally cannot. For example, you can say either laual on raamat or laua peal on raamat and mean practically the same thing: 'there is a book on the desk'. However, you cannot say minu peal on raamat and mean the same thing as mul on raamat 'I have a book': minu peal on raamat would mean a situation in which you are most likely lying with a book placed in direct physical contact upon you.

There is no a priori reason for the possessor in a posessive sentence to be a locative element. There are languages like Latin and Hungarian in which the possessor in a possessive sentence occurs in the dative case, so there is no theoretical obstacle against regarding the adessive NP in a possessive sentence as a dativeelement.

It is very interesting to observe that the possessive sentence is actually a special case of the adessive construction with the verb olema, in which the semantics of the adessive NP ranges from the possessor in a possessive sentence to the experincer in a experiencer construction. Note that the transition from the possessor construction to the experiencer construction is gradient as the examples in (1) show:

(1)

a. meil oli suur korter 'we had a big apartment'

b. emal on töötuju 'Mother is in the mood to do work'

c. Võib-olla oli tal kiire 'Perhaps she was in a hurry'

d. Mul oli kuidagi paha 'I felt uneasy somehow'

e. Boval oli kuum. 'It was hot for Bova'

The most conspicuous difference between a possessive sentence like (1a) and an experiencer construction like (1e) is that the experiencer construction has an adjective phrase (kuum 'hot') where the possessor construction has a noun phrase (suur korter 'a big apartment'). There are intermediate cases between them, i.e. words like kiire 'urgent; hurry', paha 'evil', etc. These are words which can be interpreted either as a noun or an adjective depending on the syntactic environment. In these particular cases, however, whether kiire in (1c) and paha in (1d) are nouns or adjectives seems to make practically no difference in semantics. The notions of 'being the possessor of something' and 'being the experiencer of something' merge in these cases: apparently 'possessing' and 'experiencing' are practically the same thing if the object is a mental or physical state. In what follows, the term 'possessor/experiencer construction' will be used to refer to the construction like (1) in general.

The sentences in (2) differ from those in (1) in that they have an infinitival phrase. The possessor/experiencer polarity is also observed here. In sentences on the possessor pole, the semantic relation between the noun and the infinitive is typically that of a verb and its object as in (2a), but it can be otherwise as is exemplified by (2b). In sentence (2c), which means that the mother's whereabouts were known to the father, the experiencer interpretation might sound slightly more natural than the possessor interpretation. In sentences (2d) and (2e), where an adejctive occurs instead of a noun, the adessive NPs are to be interpreted as experiencer NPs. Note that the adessive NP in this construction is the semantic subject (or "controller") of the infinitive.

(2)

a. mul pole midagi süüa 'I don't have anything to eat'

b. ei olnud mul aega enam temaga seal rääkida 'I didn't have time to talk with her there any more'

c. isal olid teada ema peidukohad 'Dad knew where Mother was hiding'

d. mul oli kodus kõhe olla 'it was uncomfortable for me to be at home'

e. tal oli seda väga raske anda 'it was difficult for her to give it away'

If we turn to sentences like (3), we notice that though they are considerably far removed from the typical possessor/experiencer construction in their internal structure, their affinity to the possessor/experiencer construction is apparent because of the semantics of the adessive NP.

(3)

a. lasteaed oli meil kodu lähedal 'Our kindergarten was close to our house'

b. Ema ja isa olid mul Tallinna jaamas vastas 'Mother and Father met me at the Tallinn Station'

There are also other adessive constructions with an intransitive verb other than olema that are very similar to the possessor/experiencer construction. The possessor/experiencer polarity is also observable in this case:

(4)

a. Isal valutab hullusti pea. 'Father has a terrible headache'

b. Mul jäi hing kinni. 'I lost my breath'

c. lõuna paiku tõusis mul pisike palavik 'toward noon my temperature rose a little'

d. Rakveres hakkas mul varsti igav. 'In Rakvere I soon began to feel bored'

It should be noted that the adessive NPs in (4a) and (4b) are reminiscent of the so-called "possessive dative" in German (e.g. mir schmerzt der Kopf 'I have a headache'). The name "possessive dative" comes from the fact that the dative NP in such a sentence can generally be rendered into the genitive case in German. This is in principle also true of the Estonian adessive NP in this type of construction.

If (4a) and (4b) are instances of the possessor construction, then (4c) and (4d) are experiencer constructions. Note that the adessive NP in the expereincer construction of this type cannot generally be replaced with a genitive form, so the analogy with the German possessive dative is only partial.

There are transitive counterparts for the construction of the type (4a)/(4b). In (5) the adesseive NP, unlike those in (4a)/(4b) which are interpreted as referring to the subject NP and expressing its possessor, refers to the direct object as its possessor:

(5)

a. ema hoidis mul käest kinni 'Mother held me tightly by the hand'

b. Ma kleebin nad sul ise vihikusse. 'I will paste them in the notebook for you myself'

c. ma alandan teil üüri 'I will lower your rent'

d. Ta pesi lapsel käed puhtaks. 'She washed the child's hands clean'

The transitive construction may occur in the indefinite person (umbisik):

(6)

a. Heljol varastati kott ära. 'Heljo had her bag stolen'

b. Ega mul peetagi sünnipäeva 'No birthday party is going to be held for me at all'

Akin to the experiencer construction with an infinitive are modal sentences like (7), where the function of the adessive NP as the semantic subject (or "controller") of the infinitive (infiniittarindite tegevussubjekt) is more apparent than in (2d)/(2e):

(7)

a. Enam polnud mul vaja klassi otsida. 'It was no longer necessary for me to look for the classroom'

b. mul tuli öelda ainult üks lause 'I had to say merely one sentence'

c. Emadel ei sobi oma lastele nõnda öelda. 'It isn't good for Mothers to say such a thing to their children'

The function of the adessive NP as the semantic subject of the infinitive becomes more central in transitive sentences like (8). Note that (8a) and (8b) are usually regarded as the causative construction:

(8)

a. Õunte ülesostja laskis vanaemal näidata ja rääkida 'The buyer of apples let the old woman show (the apples) and talk'

b. Kas su isa lubab mul tulla? 'Will your father allow me to visit you?'

c. Maimu käskis mul vaarikad kiiresti ära süüa 'Maimu ordered me to eat the raspberries up quickly'

d. Aitasime tal korterit remontida. 'We helped him repair the apartment'

It shuld be pointed out that the Estonian adessive-dative may sometimes be employed in a way reminiscent of the so-called "ethical dative" in German (e.g. er ist mir ein guter Freund 'he is indeed a good friend of mine'):

(9)

a. Aga ta on mul äga hea laps 'But he is very good child (for me)'

b. Oled mul kena sõber küll! 'You are my good friend indeed'

In summary, we may conclude that the function of the Estonian adessive ranges from the expression of the possessor via the expression of the experiencer to the expression of the semantic subject of the infinitive.

It should be stressed that the analogy between the Estonian adessive-dative and the German free dative is only partial bcause the Estonian adessive-dative, unlike the German free dative, may occur with a non-human referent. Possessive sentences with a non-human possessor in the adessive case is not uncommon, and the non-human adessive-dative is also possible, though rather rare, in certain constructions:

(10)

a. raadiol oli uhke võõrapärane nimi "Philips" 'The radio set had a superb foreign name "Philips"'

b. kaas oli potil kõvasti peal 'The lid was firmly placed on the pot'

c. Paraku läks minu rattal kumm katki. 'Unfortunately my bicycle had a flat tire'

d. Üle paari päeva vahetas poiss kalal vannis vett. 'Every third day the boy changed water for the fish in the bathtub'