caselinked

Caselinked is a term used in linguistics to describe a type of word order in which the case of a noun is determined by its position relative to the verb in the sentence. This phenomenon is particularly prominent in languages with a rich case system, such as Latin, Greek, and many Slavic languages. In caselinked languages, the case of a noun can change depending on whether it appears before or after the verb in the sentence.

For example, in Latin, the case of a noun can indicate whether it is the subject or the object of the verb. If the noun appears before the verb, it is typically in the nominative case, indicating that it is the subject. If the noun appears after the verb, it is usually in the accusative case, indicating that it is the object. This system allows for a flexible word order while maintaining clear grammatical relationships between words.

Caselinked languages often have a more flexible word order compared to languages with fixed word order, such as English. This flexibility can be advantageous in certain contexts, such as when expressing complex ideas or when translating from languages with different word order patterns. However, it can also make the grammar more complex and challenging to learn for speakers of languages with fixed word order.

The term "caselinked" was coined by the linguist Joseph Greenberg in the 1960s to describe this linguistic phenomenon. Since then, it has been used by linguists to study and compare the grammatical structures of different languages.