Many languages have a CASE SYSTEM.

What is a CASE SYSTEM

Example of Case System:

a set of affixes (almost always suffixes) that mark the relations that NPs bear to their governors.

CASE SYSTEM occurs in Australian Language, Pitta-Pitta.

Each case is represented by a single form.

There is one complication.

The subject of an intransitive verb is unmarked.

The subject of a transitive verb is marked by a suffix –lu (the ergative case) that marks instruments.

CASE SUFFIXES SUFFIXES SENTENCES

Nominative -Ø The dog ran away (INTRANSITIVE SUBJECT)

Ergative / instrumental

-lu The man hit the dog with a stick (TRANSITIVE SUBJECT andinstrumental)

Accusative -nha The dog bit the man (direct object)

Dative / pergressive -ku The dog is fond of the man, The dog swam through the flood

Purposive / possesive -nga The woman’s dog went for the paper

locative -ina The dog swam in the creek

allative -inu The dog went to the creek

ablative -inya The dog name back from the creek

causal -la The dog hid from the policeman

The nominative is used for nouns in isolation and forthe subject of an intransitive verb.

It characteristically expresses the role of neutralpatient, including entities that ‘locomote’ (with ‘go’,‘come’, etc).

These might seem to have agent subjects, but themover is also the moved and the activity does notextend to an external entity.

karna karnta-ka

man go-past

The man went

The ergative marks the subject of a transitive verb.

It expresses the role of agent.

It also encodes the role of instrument.

karna-lu pithi-ka piyawarli-nha parnkuparnku-lu

man-erg hit past dog-acc walking:stick-erg (insr)

The man hit the dog with a stick.

The accusative marks the direct object expressing the characteristics role of affected patient.

karna-lu pithi-ka piyawarli-nha parnkuparnku-lu

man-erg hit past dog-acc walking:stick-erg (insr)The man hit the dog with a stick.

The dative function of –ku is restricted.

It marks the complement:

yatha ‘to like’

tiwa ‘be jealous of’

wapa ‘to look for’

wantili ‘to wait for’

karna yatha-ya piyawarli-ku

man like-pres dog-dat

The man likes the dog.

The pergressive function:

‘through’

‘across’

‘along’

karna yurta-ka ngarraru-ku

man swam-past flood-dat (pergressive)

The man swam through the flood

Exampe of purposive:

karna karnta-ka kupi-nga

man go-past fish-purp

The man went for (to get) fish

Example of possesive:

karna-nga piyawarli pantyi-ya

man-purp dog ail-pres

The man’s dog is sick

It indicates location in general.

Adverbs are used to give specific orientation of one entity in relation to another.

karna nhangka-y kunti-ina kukuina

man sit-pres house-loc behind

The man is (sitting) behind the house

It indicates destinations.

-inya ablativeIt indicates ‘from’, i.e. source.

karna karnta-ka Mount Isa-inya Dajarra-inu

man go-past Mt Isa-abl Dajarra-allative

The man went from Mt Isa to Dajarra

It marks causes ‘sick from (drinking) whisky, and entities that are to be avoided.

Example:

Bad spirits – not just bad whisky!

karna wilakana-ya yampi-la

man hide-pres m:in:law-causal

The man is hiding from (sc. to avoid) his mother-in-law

LATIN

Case System of Latin :

a.Suffixes express case

b.Number

c.Gender class

d.Irregularities, etc

1st declesion

‘girl’

ā stem

2nd declesion

‘slave’

o stem

3rd declesion

‘king’

Cons. stem

Nom. Puella Servus Rēx

Voc. Puella Serve Rēx

Acc. Puellam Servum Rēgem

Gen. Puellae Servī Rēgis

Dat. Puellae Servō Rēgī

Abl. puellā Servō Rēge

Nom. Puellae Servī Rēgēs

Voc. Puellae Servī Rēgēs

Acc. Puellās Servōs Rēgēs

Gen. Puellārum Servōrum Rēgum

Dat. Puellīs Servīs Rēgibus

Abl. Puellīs Servīs Rēgibus

Notes :

-The cases are distinguished on the basis of

differentiation in a single paradigm.

-The vocative is marked by a separate form only

in the second declension singular.

-There is SYNCRETISM (neutralisation) between

the nomative and vocative.

Nominative : marks the subject

Vocative : used to address someone

Accusative : marks direct object and the object

of some prepositions

Genitive : correspons to ‘s and of in English

Dative : marks indirect object of dare ‘to

give’ and the complement of a score

or so of verbs

Ablative : marks a number of distict roles

Adjective and determiners agree with their

head nouns in number, case and gender

The adjective used in the sentences below

decline like puella, servus, or bellum

according to the gender of the noun they

modify

Rex bonus dat unum servum puellae

(The good king gives one/a slave to the girl)

Regis servus iit ex Britaniā in Italiam

(The king’s slave went from Britain to Italy)

Illa puella manet in Italiā cum amicis

(That girl is staying in Italy with friends)

English, like the other Indo-European

languages, once had a case system like the

Latin. Old English had a case system almost

identical with that of modern German (the

system was almost identical not the forms,

although the forms were very similar to

those of German)

During the middle this period these were

lost (very careless) except for the sibilant

ending of the genitive (cognate with the –is

of Latin regins in the paradigms above) we

still have this, but it is not case maker

anymore. It is derivational affix that is

added to noun phrases to produce

possessive determiners.

The dog’s bone

The man down the street’s dog

The man over there’s dog

We write the genitive or possessive ‘s

with an apostrophe to distinguish it

from the plural –’we’ means educated

people over 35

With pronouns there is a two-way case

distinction: nominative versus oblique

(non-nominative). This distinction is made

suppletively, i.e. by using different stems.

Me supplies the oblique case of I, him of

he and so on

nominative oblique

First person singular I me

Third person singular he him

she her

it it

First person singular we us

Second person plural you you

Third person plural they them

In text book English the nominative

forms are used for subject and the

oblique forms for all other

functions. In real English the

nominative forms are used in

certain other constructions, eg:

between you and I.