Casegender

Casegender is a term used in descriptive linguistics to refer to patterns in which grammatical gender and case morphology interact within a language's morphosyntactic system. It describes how the gender of a noun, or the gender semantics of its referent, can influence the choice or realization of case endings, agreement markers, or pronoun inflection.

The concept is used in languages with explicit gender marking on nouns, pronouns, or adjectives, and in languages with noun class systems. It is not a standardized term, but it appears in typological discussions and theoretical analyses that explore correlations between gender and case and how they shape morphosyntax.

Typologically, casegender patterns may include gender-conditioned case allomorphs, gender-based agreement on determiners or adjectives that co-vary with case, or pronoun systems where case forms differ according to referent gender. For example, a language might show a genitive singular ending only with masculine nouns, while feminine nouns receive a different ending alongside other gender-sensitive markers.

Critics argue that casegender can overstate the connection between gender and case, cautioning against assuming a causal link without robust cross-linguistic evidence; others view it as a convenient label for summarizing correlated patterns in typology.

See also: grammatical gender; grammatical case; agreement; noun class; typology; pronoun inflection.