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In grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, the case of a noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
 or pronoun
Pronoun

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun with or without a Determiner , such as Wiktionary:you and Wiktionary:they in English language....
 indicates its grammatical function
Grammatical function

In linguistics, grammatical functions or refer to syntactic relationships between parts of speech such as subject , object , adjunct, complement ....
 in a greater phrase
Phrase

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a Sentence .For example the house at the end of the street is a phrase....
 or clause
Clause

In grammar, a clause is a pair of words or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate , although in some languages and some types of clauses, the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase....
; such as the role of subject
Subject (grammar)

The subject is one of the two main constituent every sentence can be divided into, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle....
, of direct object, or of possessor
Possession (linguistics)

Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possession the referent of the other....
. While most language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
s distinguish cases in some fashion, it is only customary to say that a language has cases when these are codified in the morphology
Morphology (linguistics)

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of structure of words . While words are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, it is clear that in most languages, words can be related to other words by rules....
 of its nouns — that is, when nouns change their form to reflect their case. (Such a change in form is a kind of declension
Declension

In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
, hence a kind of inflection
Inflection

In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as grammatical tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, grammatical aspect, grammatical person, grammatical number, grammatical gender, grammatical case....
.) Cases are related to, but distinct from, thematic role
Thematic role

Thematic role is a linguistics notion, which may refer to:* Theta role * Thematic relation ...
s such as agent
Agent (grammar)

In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation. Also, agent is the name of the thematic role with the above definition....
 and patient
Patient (grammar)

In linguistics, a grammatical patient, also called the target or undergoer, is the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out....
; while certain cases in each language tend to correspond to certain thematic roles, cases are a syntactic
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 notion whereas thematic roles are a semantic
Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in communication. The word is derived from the Greek language word s??a?t???? , "significant", from s??a??? , "to signify, to indicate" and that from s??a , "sign, mark, token"....
 one.

Cases in English
Cases are not very prominent in modern English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, except in its personal pronoun
Personal pronoun

Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known human languages have personal pronouns....
s (a remnant of the more extensive case system of Old English).






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In grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, the case of a noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
 or pronoun
Pronoun

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun with or without a Determiner , such as Wiktionary:you and Wiktionary:they in English language....
 indicates its grammatical function
Grammatical function

In linguistics, grammatical functions or refer to syntactic relationships between parts of speech such as subject , object , adjunct, complement ....
 in a greater phrase
Phrase

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a Sentence .For example the house at the end of the street is a phrase....
 or clause
Clause

In grammar, a clause is a pair of words or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate , although in some languages and some types of clauses, the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase....
; such as the role of subject
Subject (grammar)

The subject is one of the two main constituent every sentence can be divided into, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle....
, of direct object, or of possessor
Possession (linguistics)

Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possession the referent of the other....
. While most language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
s distinguish cases in some fashion, it is only customary to say that a language has cases when these are codified in the morphology
Morphology (linguistics)

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of structure of words . While words are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, it is clear that in most languages, words can be related to other words by rules....
 of its nouns — that is, when nouns change their form to reflect their case. (Such a change in form is a kind of declension
Declension

In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
, hence a kind of inflection
Inflection

In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as grammatical tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, grammatical aspect, grammatical person, grammatical number, grammatical gender, grammatical case....
.) Cases are related to, but distinct from, thematic role
Thematic role

Thematic role is a linguistics notion, which may refer to:* Theta role * Thematic relation ...
s such as agent
Agent (grammar)

In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation. Also, agent is the name of the thematic role with the above definition....
 and patient
Patient (grammar)

In linguistics, a grammatical patient, also called the target or undergoer, is the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out....
; while certain cases in each language tend to correspond to certain thematic roles, cases are a syntactic
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 notion whereas thematic roles are a semantic
Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in communication. The word is derived from the Greek language word s??a?t???? , "significant", from s??a??? , "to signify, to indicate" and that from s??a , "sign, mark, token"....
 one.

Cases in English


Cases are not very prominent in modern English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, except in its personal pronoun
Personal pronoun

Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known human languages have personal pronouns....
s (a remnant of the more extensive case system of Old English). For other pronouns, and all nouns, adjectives, and articles, case is indicated only by word order
Word order

In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the different ways in which languages arrange the constituents of their sentences relative to each other, and the systematic correspondences of between these arrangements....
, by prepositions, and by the clitic -'s
Saxon genitive

"Saxon genitive" is the traditional term used for the ?s possessive clitic in the English language. In traditional grammar, it is considered a word-ending, or suffix....
.

Taken as a whole, English personal pronouns
English personal pronouns

The personal pronouns of English can have various forms according to grammatical gender, grammatical number, grammatical person, and grammatical case....
 are typically said to have three morphological cases: the nominative case
Nominative case

The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
 (such subjective pronouns as I, he, she, we), used for the subject of a finite verb
Finite verb

A finite verb is a verb that is Inflection for grammatical person and for grammatical tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs....
 and sometimes for the complement
Complement (linguistics)

In grammar the term complement is used with different meanings. The primary meaning is a word, phrase or clause which is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning....
 of a copula; the accusative/dative case
Dative case

The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
 (such objective pronouns as me, him, her, us), used for the direct or indirect object
Object (grammar)

An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence Predicate . It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb....
 of a verb, for the object of a preposition, for an absolute disjunct, and sometimes for the complement of a copula; and the genitive case
Genitive case

In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
 (such possessive pronouns as my/mine, his, her(s), our(s)), used for a grammatical possessor. That said, these pronouns often have more than three forms; the possessive typically has both a determiner
Determiner

A determiner is a noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase in the context, including quantity, rather than attributes expressed by adjectives....
 form (such as my, our) and a distinct independent form (such as mine, ours). Additionally, except for the interrogative personal pronoun who, they all have a distinct reflexive
Reflexive pronoun

A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphora that must be bound by its antecedent ....
 or intensive form (such as myself, ourselves).

Simplified illustration of some common case categories

While not very prominent in English, cases feature much more saliently in many other Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
, such as Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, Sanskrit, and Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
. Historically, the Indo-European languages had eight morphological cases, though modern languages typically have fewer, using prepositions and word order to convey information that had previously been conveyed using distinct noun forms. The eight historic cases are as follows, with examples:

  • The nominative case
    Nominative case

    The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
    , which corresponds to English's subjective case, indicates the subject of a finite verb:
    We went to the store.
  • The accusative case
    Accusative case

    The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions....
    , which together with the dative and ablative cases (below) corresponds to English's objective case, indicates the direct object of a verb:
    The clerk remembered us.
  • The dative case
    Dative case

    The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
     indicates the indirect object of a verb:
    The clerk gave us a discount.
  • The ablative case
    Ablative case

    In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to grammatical case in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ....
     indicates the object of most common prepositions:
    The victim went with us to see the doctor.
  • The genitive case
    Genitive case

    In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
    , which corresponds to English's possessive case, indicates the possessor of another noun:
    Our citizens are proud of our country.
  • The vocative case
    Vocative case

    The vocative case is the declension used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence....
     indicates an addressee:
    You there, are you O.K.?
  • The locative case
    Locative case

    Locative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases together with the lative case and separative case case....
     indicates a location:
    We live in China.
  • The instrumental case
    Instrumental case

    The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action....
     indicates an object used in performing an action:
    We wiped the floor with it.


All of the above are just rough descriptions; the precise distinctions vary from language to language, and are often quite complex. Case is arguably based fundamentally on changes to the ending of the noun to indicate the noun's role in the sentence. This is not how English works, where word order and prepositions are used to achieve this; as such it is debatable whether the above examples of English sentences can be said to be examples of 'case' in English.

Examples from Latin and Sanskrit

An example of a Latin case inflection is given below, using the singular forms of the word homo (man), which belongs to Latin's third declension.

  • homo (nominative
    Nominative case

    The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
    ) "[the] man" [as a subject] (e.g.     homo ibi stat the man is standing there)
  • hominis (genitive
    Genitive case

    In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
    ) "the man's/of [the] man" (e.g.     nomen hominis est Claudius the man's name is Claudius)
  • homini (dative
    Dative case

    The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
    ) "to/for [the] man" [as an indirect object] (e.g.     homini donum dedi I gave a present to the man; homo homini lupus Man is a wolf to man.)
  • hominem (accusative
    Accusative case

    The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions....
    ) "[the] man" [as a direct object] (e.g.    hominem vidi I saw the man)
  • homine (ablative
    Ablative case

    In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to grammatical case in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ....
    ) "from/with/in/by [the] man" [in various uses not covered by the above] (e.g.     sum altior homine I am taller than the man).


Grammatical case was analyzed extensively in Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
, where it is known as karaka
Karaka

Karaka may refer to the following:*Karaka , a tree endemic to New Zealand.*Karaka, New Zealand is a small town in the North Island, New Zealand....
. Six varieties are defined by Pa?ini
Pa?ini

was an Iron Age India Sanskrit grammarian from Pushkalavati, Gandhara .He is known for his Vyakarana, particularly for his formulation of the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit Morphology in the grammar known as 'Ashtadhyayi' , the foundational text of the grammatical branch of the Vedanga, the auxiliary scholarly disciplines of historical Ved...
, largely in terms of their semantic role
Thematic role

Thematic role is a linguistics notion, which may refer to:* Theta role * Thematic relation ...
s, but with detailed rules specifying the corresponding morphosyntactic derivations:
  • agent (kartri, often in the subject position, performing independently)
  • patient (karman, often in object position)
  • means (kara?a, instrument)
  • recipient (sampradana, similar to the dative)
  • source (apadana, similar but not equal to the ablative)
  • locus (adhikara?a, location or goal)
For example, consider the following sentence:
vriksh[at] par?[am] bhum[au] patati
[from] the tree a leaf [to] the ground falls
"a leaf falls from the tree to the ground"


Here leaf is the agent, tree is the source, and ground is the locus, the corresponding declensions are reflected in the morphemes -am -at and -au respectively.

Languages with rich nominal inflection typically have a number of identifiable declension classes
Declension

In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
, or groups of nouns that share a similar pattern of case inflection. While Sanskrit has six classes, Latin is traditionally said to have five declension classes. Such languages often exhibit free word order, since thematic roles are not dependent on position.

Though English pronouns can have subject and object forms (he/him, she/her), nouns show only a singular/plural and a possessive/non-possessive distinction (e.g., chair, chairs, chair's, chairs'). Note that chair does not change form between "the chair is here" (subject) and "I saw the chair" (direct object). The n-declension is restricted to a few words like ox-oxen, brother-brethren, and child-children, though in Medieval English the s-declension and the n-declension were in stronger competition.

Case and linguistic typology


Languages are categorized into several case systems, based on their morphosyntactic alignment — how they group verb agents and patients into cases:

  • Nominative-accusative
    Nominative-accusative language

    A nominative?accusative language, or simply an accusative language, is a language that marks the object of transitive verbs distinguishing them from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs....
     (or simply accusative): The argument (subject) of an intransitive verb is in the same case as the agent (subject) of a transitive verb; this case is then called the nominative case
    Nominative case

    The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
    , with the patient (direct object) of a transitive verb being in the accusative case
    Accusative case

    The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions....
    .
  • Ergative-absolutive
    Ergative-absolutive language

    An ergative?absolutive language is a language that treats the Verb argument of an intransitive verb like the Object of a transitive verb, but distinctly from the agent of a transitive verb....
     (or simply ergative): The argument (subject) of an intransitive verb is in the same case as the patient (direct object) of a transitive verb; this case is then called the absolutive case
    Absolutive case

    In ergative-absolutive languages, the absolutive is the grammatical case used to mark both the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb....
    , with the agent (subject) of a transitive verb being in the ergative case
    Ergative case

    The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.In such languages, the ergative case is typically Markedness , while the absolutive case is unmarked....
    .
  • Ergative-accusative (or tripartite): The argument (subject) of an intransitive verb is in its own case (the intransitive case
    Intransitive case

    The intransitive case is a grammatical case used in some languages to mark the subject of an intransitive verb, but not used with transitive verbs....
    ), separate from that of the agent (subject) or patient (direct object) of a transitive verb (which is in the ergative case or accusative case, respectively).
  • Active-stative
    Active-stative language

    An active?stative language, or an active language for short, is one in which the sole verb argument of an intransitive verb is sometimes marked in the same way as the agent of a transitive verb , and sometimes in the same way as the direct object of a transitive verb....
     (or simply active): The argument (subject) of an intransitive verb can be in one of two cases; if the argument is an agent, as in "He ate," then it is in the same case as the agent (subject) of a transitive verb (sometimes called the agentive case), and if it's a patient, as in "He tripped," then it is in the same case as the patient (direct object) of a transitive verb (sometimes called the patientive case).
  • Trigger: One noun in a sentence is the topic or focus. This noun is in the trigger case, and information elsewhere in the sentence (for example a verb
    Verb

    In syntax, a verb is a word that usually denotes an action , an occurrence , or a state of being . Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its grammatical tense, grammatical aspect, grammatical mood and grammatical voice....
     affix
    Affix

    An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivation , like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed....
     in Tagalog
    Tagalog language

    Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. It is a basis for the Filipino language, which is the principal language of the national television and radio, though broadsheet newspapers are almost completely in English....
    ) specifies the role of the trigger. The trigger may be identified as the agent, patient, etc. Other nouns may be inflected for case, but the inflections are overloaded; for example, in Tagalog, the subject and object of a verb are both expressed in the genitive case
    Genitive case

    In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
     when they are not in the trigger case.


The following are systems that some languages use to mark case instead of, or in addition to, declension:

  • Positional: Nouns are not inflected for case; the position of a noun in the sentence expresses its case.
  • Adposition
    Adposition

    In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a adpositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing the prepositional phrase "on the sofa"....
    al: Nouns are accompanied by words that mark case.


Some languages have very many cases; for example, Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
 has fifteen (see Finnish language noun cases
Finnish language noun cases

Finnish language nouns as well as any modifying adjectives, superlatives or comparatives, can be declension by a large number of grammatical cases, which are detailed here....
), Hungarian
Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic languages unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries....
 has eighteen and Tsez
Tsez language

Tsez, also known as Dido is a Northeast Caucasian languages with about 15,354 speakers spoken by the Tsez people, a Muslim people in the mountainous Tsunta district of southern and western Dagestan in Russia....
 can even be analyzed as having 126 cases.

In Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
, each case often contains several different endings, some of which may even be derived from different roots. An ending is chosen depending on gender
Grammatical gender

In linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once....
, number
Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, whether the word is a noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
 or a modifier
Grammatical modifier

In grammar, a modifier is a word or sentence element that limits or qualifies another word, a phrase, or a clause. In English, there are two kinds of modifiers: adjectives, which modify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs, which modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs....
, and other factors.

The lemma
Lemma (linguistics)

In linguistics a lemma has two distinct interpretations:# morphology / lexicography: the canonical form or citation form of a set of forms ; e.g....
 forms of words, which is the form chosen by convention as the canonical form of a word, is usually the most unmarked
Markedness

Markedness is a Linguistics concept that developed out of the Prague School. A marked form is a non-basic or less natural form. An unmarked form is a basic, default form....
 or basic case, which is typically the nominative, trigger, or absolutive case, whichever a language may have.

See also

  • Agreement (linguistics)
    Agreement (linguistics)

    In languages, agreement is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when one word changes in form depending on to which other words it is being related....
  • Declension
    Declension

    In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
  • Grammatical voice
    Grammatical voice

    In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its verb arguments ....
  • Inflection
    Inflection

    In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as grammatical tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, grammatical aspect, grammatical person, grammatical number, grammatical gender, grammatical case....
  • List of grammatical cases
    List of grammatical cases

    This is a list of Grammatical case as they are used by various Inflections that have declension....
  • Thematic role
    Thematic role

    Thematic role is a linguistics notion, which may refer to:* Theta role * Thematic relation ...
  • Case hierarchy
    Case hierarchy

    In linguistic typology, the case hierarchy states grammatical cases in order of their prominence. It should therefore be concluded that a language which makes use of any given case will also make use of all the cases which are higher on the hierarchy....
  • Differential object marking
    Differential object marking

    Differential Object Marking is a linguistic phenomenon that is present in more than 300 languages; the term was coined by George Bossong. In languages were DOM is active, direct object are divided in two different classes, depending on different meanings, and, in most DOM languages, only one of the classes receives a marker, the other being...