Case: case
Case is usually an inflectional feature of nouns, and, in many Uralic
languages, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals, some adpositions and adverbs,
and non-finite forms of verbs. The case feature typically matches case
suffixes. Some cases can be considered derivational, creating a new lexeme
rather than part of the original lexical features, this is often case with
marginal semantic cases that are not part of lexical constructions. Uralic
languages have rich case systems and there are few dozens of values that can be
used, it is advisable to try and match an existing value before documenting a
new one.
The values can be roughly separated into grammatical (Nom, Acc, Dat) and
semantic. Semantic cases are typically derived of proto-Uralic directional case
systems (to, on, from, and later: inner, outer and surficial, etc.), but are
different between Uralic languages. Marginal cases are sometimes considered as
derivational suffixes instead.
The case systems of Uralic languages vary a lot, a care should be taken in using correct values mapping between different languages. For example, Hungarian has full nominative-accusative-dative grammatical case system, whereas Finnish has genitive and partitive standing in for object cases and no dative; Hungarian has a 9 locative case system whereas Finnish has 6 and North Sámi 4. It is not always easy to map between them using descriptions here as only guideline.
Distinguishing between marginal cases and derivations have to be done on a case by case basis. Potential evidence against Case feature includes: no phonological evidence (e.g. lack of vowel harmony indicates a postpositional enclitic / compound), no syntactic evidence (e.g. lack of case agreement in noun phrases) and limited productivity.
Nom: Nominative
Nominative is typically an unmarked base form, the form of subject’s in basic clauses, often also the dictionary form and lemma form of the word.
Nominative examples
- [fi] kissa “cat”, talo “house”
- [fi] nopea “fast”, juokseva “running”
- [fi] minä “I”, kolme “three”
Acc: Accusative
Accusative is typically the form of direct object, but not necessarily solely.
For example, in Finnish the direct object is mainly seen in genitive Gen and
partitive Par forms instead (because of language history).
Accusative examples
- [fi] hänet “him”
Dat: Dative
Dative is typically a form for indirect object, though many other (semantic) cases are used in constructions that are considered indirect objects in some of the grammars.
Dative examples
None in Finnish.
Par: Partitive
Partitive is used for various tasks, including object case, indefinite semantics etc.
Partitive examples
- [fi] kissaa “a cat, of a cat”, taloa “a house, of a house”
Gen: Genitive
Genitive is typically used to form owning construction. In Finnish, genitive is used for many grammatical constructions, such as necessive subject, direct object, and so forth. Historically Finnish may have had an accusative suffix of -m whereas genitive suffix is -n, that have been merged, however, this distinction is not made in Universal Dependencies analysis (there should be a guideline saying that historical analyses are to be avoided).
Genitive examples
- [fi] kissan “cat’s”, talon “house’s”
Ine: Inessive case
Inessive is case for “being inside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Inessive examples
- [fi] kissassa “in a cat”, talossa “in a house”
Ela: Elative case
Elative is case for “moving out from inside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Elative examples
- [fi] kissasta “from a cat”, talosta “ from a house”
Ill: Illative case
Illative is case for “moving into inside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Illative examples
- [fi] kissaan “into a cat”, taloon “into a house”
Ade: Adessive case
Adessive is case for “being outside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Adessive examples
- [fi] kissalla “on a cat”, talolla “near a house”
# sentence-text: Vietin eilisen päivän tosiaan sohvalla lepäillen ja jalkaani hoitaen.
1 Vietin viettää VERB V Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act 0 root
_ _
2 eilisen eilinen ADJ A Case=Gen|Degree=Pos|Number=Sing 3 amod _ _
3 päivän päivä NOUN N Case=Gen|Number=Sing 1 dobj _ _
4 tosiaan tosiaan ADV Adv _ 1 advmod _ _
5 sohvalla sohva NOUN N Case=Ade|Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _
6 lepäillen lepäillä VERB V Case=Ins|InfForm=2|Number=Sing|VerbForm=Inf|Voice=Act 1
advcl _ _
7 ja ja CONJ C _ 6 cc _ _
8 jalkaani jalka NOUN N Case=Par|Number=Sing|Number[psor]=Sing|Person[psor]=1 9 dobj
_ _
9 hoitaen hoitaa VERB V Case=Ins|InfForm=2|Number=Sing|VerbForm=Inf|Voice=Act 6 conj 1:advcl SpaceAfter=No
10 . . PUNCT Punct _ 1 punct _ _
Abl: Ablative case
Ablative is case for “moving from outside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Ablative examples
- [fi] kissalta “from a cat”, talolta “from around a house”
All: Allative case
Allative is case for “moving to outside”. It is a part of the Uralic extended locative case system.
Allative examples
- [fi] kissalle “to a cat”, talolle “ to a house”
Exe: Exessive case
Exessive is a case for “unbecoming something”.
Finnish essives are treated as derivations, e.g. [fi] papinta “from a priest(‘s house)”
Exessive examples
None in Finnish
Tra: Translative case
Translative is a case for “turning into something”.
Translative examples
- [fi] kissaksi “into a cat”, taloksi “as home, lit. into a house”
Abe: Abessive case
Abessive is a case for “without”.
Abessive examples
- [fi] kissatta, “without a cat”, talotta “without a house”
Ins: Instructive or instrumental case
Instructive is a case for “with” (as a tool, means etc.).
Many Finnish instructives are treated as adverbs, e.g. [fi] käsin “by hand, manually”.
Instructive examples
- [fi] kissoin “with cats”, taloin “with houses”
Com: Comitative or sociative case
Comitative is a case for “with” (as accompanied with, alongside).
Comitative examples
- [fi] kissoine “with their cats”, taloine “with their houses”
Dis: Distributive case
Distributive is a case for “each, one by one”.
Finnish distributives are treated as derivations, such as [fi] talottain “house by house”.
Distributive examples
Tem: Temporal case
Temporal is a case for “at” (for a given time).
Finnish temporal distributives are treated as derivations, such as [fi] perjantaisin “each Friday”.
Temporal examples
Cau: Causative or causal case
Causative is a case for “because of”.
Add: Additive case
Additive is an Estonian case…
Voc: Vocative case
Vocative is a case for …
Layered cases
Some Uralic languages allow stacking of case suffixes, which might be implemented in UD as layered annotations or lexicalising the inflected form.
Case in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]