This volume is the first book length study into the essive a relatively unknown case marker like English as (a child)' It focuses on the distribution of the essive in contemporary Uralic languages with special attention to the opposition between permanent & impermanent state The volume presents large sets of new data & insights into the use of the essive in nineteen Uralic languages on the basis of a typological linguistic questionnaire The typological variation is discussed within the linguistic domains of non-verbal main predication secondary predication complementation & manner temporal & circumstantial adverbial phrases The descriptions & analyses are presented in such a way that they are accessible to linguists in general descriptive & theoretical linguists & specialists in Uralic andor linguistic typology The data & approach offer many starting points for further investigations within but also outside the Uralic language family