Dogri to Divehi: a person and a material need different source constructions
Do not transfer a Dogri ablative marker as a universal suffix
Dogri expresses source and other case relationships with postpositions after an oblique noun phrase. Sawhney lists several ablative markers in that system. Fritz’s Dhivehi grammar distinguishes an inherited ablative/instrumental suffix formation for non-person referents from analytic expressions used with people. Translating a Dogri phrase meaning from someone therefore requires more than choosing the Divehi ending encountered with an object or material.
In an original exchange about a delivery, something obtained from a person and something removed from a container express related source meanings but involve different referent types. A Divehi construction appropriate to the container cannot automatically be attached to the person’s name. Preserve where the item comes from while respecting the target construction’s distinction between a person and a non-person.
The same broad relation can have several target shapes
Fritz describes modern standard Divehi kuren following the oblique form of a noun referring to a person, with a source or from-the-side-of interpretation. Her account separately documents genitive-based expressions in southern varieties and specifies their distribution. The descriptions should not be combined into one interchangeable set of endings for every Divehi speaker.
This is useful when a Dogri enquiry asks for information from an official. The target may need an analytic personal-source expression; copying a synthetic instrumental suffix from an example involving a physical means would not establish the same relation. Nor should a southern genitive-based example be represented as the only standard form. The relevant distinction is grammatical and regional, not a judgement that one community’s construction is more accurate than another’s.
Instrument and personal source are not identical meanings
Sawhney lists Dogri kənnɛ with an instrumental label, while Fritz’s Divehi chapter discusses the historical and modern overlap of ablative and instrumental meanings. Those broad labels are not enough to identify the intended relation in an actual message. Being supplied by a person, being accompanied by a person and doing something with an instrument describe different situations even if a bilingual glossary offers with or by for more than one construction.
For example, a Dogri note can say that a document was obtained from a clerk, that somebody went with the clerk, or that a device was used to copy the document. The Divehi translation needs to retain the clerk’s role in the first two and the device’s role in the third. Do not select a suffix merely from the English bridge word by. Establish the event’s source, company or means before choosing the target expression. This is particularly important in compact Dogri notes where the postposition supplies a relationship that the remaining noun and verb alone would not make clear.
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