caseinflected

Caseinflected is a linguistic term used to describe languages or words that mark grammatical case through inflection. In caseinflected systems, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals display different forms depending on their grammatical function in a clause or phrase. The case itself is usually indicated by affixes such as suffixes or prefixes, by internal vowel or consonant changes, or by a combination of these, and in some languages by changes to the noun’s stem. Some languages use case marking in combination with prepositions to express spatial, directional, or relational meanings.

Systems of case marking fall along several typological lines. Many languages are nominative-accusative, with a straightforward distinction between subject versus object. Others are ergative-absolutive, which mark the subjects of some intransitive verbs differently from the objects of transitive verbs. Some languages have a rich array of cases (dative, genitive, instrumental, locative, ablative, vocative, etc.), while others have a reduced set or only pronoun inflection.

Common examples of caseinflected languages include Latin, German, Russian, and Finnish, each with its own declension patterns. In contrast, many varieties of English are weakly inflected for case, primarily in pronouns. Caseinflection is a core component of a language’s morphology and plays a key role in grammatical agreement and syntax. The study of caseinflected forms intersects with declension systems and morphosyntax and is a central topic in linguistic typology.