Introduction to cases

Peter Clark's Introduction to cases

adapted from a 26 April, 1997 post by Peter Clark

Table Of Contents:

Brief Introduction
1. Intro
2. Explanation of Cases
Introduction to Cases
Conclusion

Back to top of Table of contents --- I. Brief Introduction a. Intro Every since I discovered the joys of cases through Russian (and believe me, it took me a long time to realize that even Russian cases can be a joy!), I've wanted to learn more about them. Here is a summation of the more interesting points; hopefully, someone will learn something useful. Do not mistake this for a PhD thesis; this is a BRIEF overview to jumpstart your creativity.

As you can see from the table of contents, I've found about thirty different cases; some are quite common, some are limited to one or two languages. I will admit, up front, a bias for more 'common' cases; that is why dative, instrumental, genitive, etc. are listed first. These are the cases that you will probably run into in any good reference book. However, learning about some of the less-frequently used cases got my creative juices flowing, so don't overlook the ones listed at the bottom.

Oh, yes; in order to make things more comprehensible, I have included some examples. I use Russian where applicable, and for the other 26 or so cases, I just invented some words and case endings to follow. Hopefully, these will clarify, rather than obfuscate, the different cases.
Enough babbling: let's talk cases! Back to TOC b. Explanation of Cases (Skip this if you already know what cases are.) Case is a grammatical category of a noun (or similarily inflected word, usually a pronoun or an adjective), indicating its relationship to other words in a sentence. In inflected languages (languages that use cases), cases are usually distinguished by declensional endings, or a lack of an ending. A brief example from Russian, a heavily inflected language:

        Lara gavorila Ivanu
        (Lara talked to Ivan)

Here, Lara is the subject of the sentence, and Ivan is the object. (And in case you're interested, "gavorila" is the past tense feminine form of "to speak".) Because "Lara" is the subject, she is put in the nominative case, which in Russian remains unchanged. "Ivan" however, is treated as the indirect object, and thus is inflected in the dative case (the U indicates that a masculine noun is being declined in the dative case.) Note that word order does not matter, other than emphasis. In other words, you can say:

        Ivanu gavorila Lara
        (To Ivan talked Lara)

and retain almost the exact same meaning as the first sentence. If you wished to say: "Ivan talked to Lara" you would say: "Ivan gavoril Larye" or "Larye gavoril Ivan." This is but one of the beautiful things about cases. Note that you could not do the same in English, a non-inflected language (for the most part--English does have case-like functions, but that's another story.) For example:

        Lara talked to Ivan
means something completely different from
        Ivan talked to Lara

English relies extensively on word order to indicate relationships between words.

There is no one system of cases; every language approaches cases in a different manner. German has four cases, Russian has six, Finish has sixteen, etc. Now that you have a bit of an idea about what cases are, let's look at some different cases.

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II. Introduction to Cases a. Core Cases While all languages approach cases differently, there are some common traits among them. There are two primary core case systems, plus two additional systems that are not as frequently used. 'Core case' refers to the manner in which inflected languages differentiate between agents and patients (the actor and the receiver in sentences with a transitive verb), or the subject in a sentence with an intransitive verb. These are the fundamental cases of inflected languages; other cases refer back to them.

1. Nominative/Accusative This is the most common case system; subjects are marked (or, as the case is in most languages, unmarked--that is, they are not declined) in the nominative case, while the direct object of the sentance is in the accusative case.

        Koshka chitayet knigu
        cat.NOM read.PRESENT book.ACC
        (The cat is reading the book)

In Russian, the nominative does not decline, so "koshka" remains the same. "Kniga," however, declines to "knigu" in the accusative case. "To read", as used here, is a transitive verb. For intransative verbs, the subject remains in the nominative case. Quick sum:

        I hit the ball (transative sentence)
        NOM       ACC

        The ball was hit (intransative sentence)
            NOM

2. Ergative/Absolutive This system accounts is found in about 30% of the languages that use cases. It's also a little more complex than the nominative/accusative. The subject of a transative sentence is in the ergative case, while the object is in the absolutive case. So what's the difference between this and nominative/accusative? In an ergative/absolutive core case system, the subject of the intransative sentence is in the absolutive case. So:

        I hit the ball (transative sentence)
        ERG       ABS

        The ball was hit (intransative sentence)
            ABS

Compare this example with the one for nominative/accusative, and you'll see the difference.

3. Active System This system is essentially organised with the agent of action versus the patient, regardless of the transitivity of the verb. That is, the agent of an intransitive verb is treated like the agent of a transative verb, and the patient of an intransative verb is treated like the patient in a transative verb. Let's see some examples to help sort it out:

        The window broke (intransative)
            ACC

        The child cried (intransative)
            NOM

        The child broke the window (transative)
             NOM            ACC

4. Mixed System Some languages use both the ergative and accusative case.

        The child cried (intransative)
            NOM.

        The window broke (intransative)
            NOM

        The man held the child (transative)
            ERG          ACC

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b. Other Common Cases Taking one step beyond the core system, there are many cases that can function in just about every part of speech. Here are some of the most common cases that are used in inflected languages:

1. Dative The dative case marks the indirect object of the sentance; in English this is usually handled by "to" or "for," as well as word order.

        Ivan chitayet knigu koshkyey
        Ivan.NOM read.PRESENT book.ACC cat.DAT
        (Ivan reads the book to the cat)

2. Genitive (Possessive) The genitive case, also known as the possessive case, is frequently used to express possession. English uses "'s" or "of" as the equivalent of the genitive case, as in "John's book" or "the book of John."

        Eto knuga Ivana
        That book.NOM Ivan.GEN
        (That is John's book)

3. Instrumental The instrumental case denotes the agent or origin of action, often the equivalent of "with," "by means of," and "through."

        On pishit karandashom
        He.NOM write.PRES pencil.INS
        (He writes with a pencil)

4. Partitive Partitive is an interesting case; it indicates that only a part of the total noun is being refered to. Often, this case is used with "mass" nouns (nouns that can't be counted or are divisible) to express the English equivalent of "some."

        Eto chay
        This tea.NOM
        (This is tea)

        Ya khochu chayu
        I.NOM want.PRES tea.GEN.PAR
        (I want some tea)

Note that this example is not perfect; Russian uses the genitive case in place of the accusative case in order to express the partitive case.

5. Prepositional Indicates dependance on certain prepositions, such as "on" or "at." For example, to say in Russian, "The book is on the table," you would say:

        Kniga na stolye
        book.NOM on table.PRE

where "stol" declines to "stolye" to indicate that it refers back to "na".

6. Vocative Denotes the person or personified object being directly addressed. Believe it or not, if you're a fan of Shakespeare, you already know this case: "Et tu Brute!" which translates to: "You too, Brutus!"

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c. Local Cases Local cases mark the position of the noun in question; often, the equivalent in English of these cases would be prepositions such as "from," "to," "out of," "into," etc. There isn't much to say about local cases; they're fairly self-evident. Think of them as very specific usages of the prepositional case.

1. Ablative Expresses the role of the source; English would use "from" in most translations.

        Dob ruplye Bostoniken
        Girl.NOM come.PAST Boston.ABL
        (The girl came from Boston)

2. Adessive Expresses "at" or "near."

        Dob zhivan Bostonel
        Girl.NOM live.PRESENT Boston.ADE
        (The girl lives near Boston)

3. Allative Expresses "to" (don't confuse with dative; allative indicates direction, not the indirect object of the sentance.)

        Dob fedilye zhurba malcho, kan ria edlyena dumakray
        Girl.NOM give.PAST book.ACC boy.DAT, as they.NOM walk.PAST house.ALL
        (The girl gave the book to the boy, as they walked to the house)

4. Elative Expresses "out of."

        Friet tralanye oblackee
        Cat.NOM jump.PAST bag.ELA
        (The cat jumped out of the bag)

5. Essive (Locative) Expresses the role of location; from what I understand, essive differs from adessive in that it specifically marks the location. If someone can further clarify the difference, please do so.

        Dob zhivan dumakari
        Girl.NOM live.PRESENT home.ESS
        (The girl lives at home)

6. Illative Expresses "into."

        Friet tralanye oblackren
        Cat.NOM jump.PAST bag.Ill
        (The cat jumped into the bag)

7. Inessive Expresses "inside."

        Friet oblackov
        Cat.NOM bag.INE
        (The cat is inside the bag)

8. Perlative Expresses "through," "across," or "along."

        Wechit krubye varish
        Chicken.NOM walk.PAST road.PER
        (The chicken walked along/across the road)

9. Subessive Expresses "under" or "below."

        Friet oblackib
        Cat.NOM bag.SUB
        (The cat is under the bag)

10. Superessive Expresses "on top of," "over," or "above."

        Friet oblackirn
        Cat.NOM bag.SUP
        (The cat is on top of the bag)

11. Superlative Expresses "to the top of."

        Friet krubye gomorodic
        Cat.NOM walk.PRES hill.SUPRL
        (The cat walked to the top of the hill)

12. Translative Expresses "through." Differs from perlative in that it restricts its meaning to "through" alone, while perlative emphasizes "along" or "across."

        Dob krubye dumakon
        Girl.NOM walk.PRES house.TRAN
        (The girl walks through the house)

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d. Other Cases This is the catch-all catagory for cases that are common, unusual, or just plain ecentric.

1. Abessive (Privative) Expresses "lacking" or "without."

        Dob frietla
        Girl.NOM cat.ABE
        (The girl is cat-less, the girl is without a cat)

2. Aversive, Evitative, Causal I like this case: it expresses what is to be feared and avoided.

        Dob kriyel fanramlomay
        Girl.NOM fear.PRES ghosts.AVE
        (The girl fears ghosts)

While the accusative case would normally be used to decline ghosts, the aversive case seems to add a special emphasis to the sentence. "She is afraid of ghosts (and well she whould be)."

3. Comitative (Sociative) Expresses with whom an entity is located, usually used with animates.

        Friet dobed
        Cat.NOM girl.COM
        (The cat is with the girl)

4. Comparative Expresses "than" in comparisons.

        Dob alroka frietana
        Girl.NOM taller cat.COMP
        (The girl is taller than the cat)

5. Concomitant (Proprietive) Opposite of abessive; expresses "has."

        Dob frietlal
        Girl.NOM cat.CON
        (The girl has a cat)

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III. Conclusion Do not think that these are the only cases and do not think that every language adheres to the same structure of cases. For example, as emntioned above, Russian has no partitive case, but rather uses the genitive in place of the accusative in order to express the partitive case with mass nouns. Essentially, you can do anything you want with cases; you are limited only by your creativity. Create your own cases. Create additional meanings and topic areas for the ones mentioned here. Have fun.

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