caseformation

Case formation, in linguistics, refers to the processes by which languages encode grammatical relations and semantic roles for nouns and related elements through case marking. This includes the creation and evolution of case forms, whether by inflectional endings, vowel changes, suppletion, or syntactic means. Case formation interacts with morphology, syntax, and word order to express subjects, objects, possessors, and other relations.

Most languages employ two broad strategies. Synthetic or inflectional systems attach endings to nouns (or adjectives) to indicate case, as in Latin, Russian, or Finnish. Analytic or prepositional systems use prepositions and word order to signal roles, often with little or no overt noun inflection, as in English. Some languages mix strategies, producing synthetic endings for some cases and relying on prepositions for others.

Linguistic typology distinguishes case systems by alignment. Nominative-accusative languages mark the subject of transitive and intransitive clauses similarly, while ergative-absolutive languages mark the subject of intransitive clauses differently from the agent of a transitive clause. Case formation also involves the processes by which new cases arise or disappear, including grammaticalization of prepositions or affixes and phonological erosion of endings.

Examples: Finnish and Hungarian have extensive case systems with numerous endings; Russian uses six or more cases; English relies largely on word order and prepositions, with a possessive marker rather than a formal case ending.