In
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, an oblique (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (
abbr
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
. ) is a nominal
case other than the
nominative case
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
, and sometimes, the
vocative
In grammar, the vocative Grammatical case, case (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers ...
.
A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role except as
subject, for which the
nominative case
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
is used. The term ''objective case'' is generally preferred by modern
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
grammarians, where it supplanted
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
's
dative
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
and
accusative
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
.
When the two terms are contrasted, they differ in the ability of a word in the oblique case to function as a
possessive
A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
attributive; whether English has an oblique rather than an objective case then depends on how "
proper
Proper may refer to:
Mathematics
* Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact
* Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...
" or
widespread one considers the dialects where such usage is employed.
An oblique case often contrasts with an
unmarked
In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
case, as in English oblique ''him'' and ''them'' versus nominative ''he'' and ''they''. However, the term ''oblique'' is also used for languages without a nominative case, such as
ergative–absolutive languages; in the
Northwest Caucasian languages
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes ''Pontic languages'' (from the historical region of Pontus, in contrast to ''Caspian languages'' for the Northeast Cauc ...
, for example, the oblique-case marker serves to mark the
ergative, dative, and
applicative case roles, contrasting with the
absolutive case
In grammar, the absolutive case (abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative ...
, which is unmarked.
Hindustani
Hindustani (
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Urdu
Urdu (;["Urdu"](_blank)
''noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s, pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
s and postpositions
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
decline for an oblique case which exclusively serves to mark the grammatical case roles using the case-marking postpositions. The oblique case has similarities with the vocative case
In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and num ...
in Hindustani. Some examples of the declension pattern are shown in the tables below:
Bulgarian
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
, an analytic Slavic language
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...
, also has an oblique case form for pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
s:
Dative role:
* "Give that ball ''to me''" дай тaзи топка на мен (''day tazi topka na men'')
(This oblique case is a relic of the original, more complex proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...
system of noun cases, and there are remnants of other cases in Bulgarian, such as the vocative case
In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and num ...
of direct address)
English
An objective case is marked on the English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
s and as such serves the role of the accusative and dative cases that other Indo-European languages employ. These forms are often called object pronoun
In linguistics, an object pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used typically as a grammatical object: the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Object pronouns contrast with subject pronouns. Object pronouns in Eng ...
s. They serve a variety of grammatical functions which they would not in languages that differentiate the two. An example using first person singular objective pronoun ''me'':
*in an accusative
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
role for a direct object (including double object and oblique
Oblique may refer to:
* an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / )
* Oblique angle, in geometry
*Oblique triangle, in geometry
*Oblique lattice, in geometry
* Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...
ditransitives):
::''Do you see me?''
::''The army sent me to Korea.''
*in a dative
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
role for an indirect object:
::''Kim passed the pancakes to me.''
::''Kim passed me the pancakes.''
*as the object of a preposition ( except in possessives):
::''That picture of me was blurry.''
::(cf. English possessive#Double genitive as in ''That picture of mine was stolen.'')
*in copular deixis
In linguistics, deixis (, ) is the use of general words and phrases to refer to a specific time, place, or person in context, e.g., the words ''tomorrow'', ''there'', and ''they''. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their de ...
:
:: eferring to a photograph''This is me on the beach.''
*in existentials (sometimes, but not always, replaceable by the nominative—in very formal style):
::''It's me again.''
::(''cf. Once again, it is I.'' ormal
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional univ ...
::''Who is it?—It's me.''
::(''cf. It is I '' 'to whom you are speaking'')
::It's me who should fix it.''
::(''cf. Since I made it, it is I who should fix it.'')
*in a nominative role with predicate or verbal ellipsis
The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...
:
::''Who made this bicycle?—Me.''
::(''cf. Who made this bicycle?—I did.'')
::''I like him.—Hey, me too.''
::(''cf. I like him.—Hey, I do too.'')
::''Who's gonna clean up this mess?—Not me!''
*in coordinated nominals:
::''Me and him are going to the store.'' (only in colloquial speech)
::(''cf. Is he going? Yes, he and I are going.'')
*as a disjunctive Disjunctive can refer to:
* Disjunctive population, in population ecology, a group of plants or animals disconnected from the rest of its range
* Disjunctive pronoun
* Disjunctive set
* Disjunctive sequence
* Logical disjunction
In logic, d ...
topic marker:
::''Me, I like French.''
The pronoun ''me'' is not inflected
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...
differently in any of these uses; it is used for all grammatical relationships except the genitive case
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
of possession (in standard English) and a non-disjunctive nominative case
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
as the subject.
*It may also be used as a comedic stylistic effect of blatant error ( nonstandard, pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
, baby or foreigner talk or "broken English
Broken English is a name for a non-standard, non-traditionally spoken or alternatively-written version of the English language. These forms of English are sometimes considered as a pidgin if they have derived in a context where more than one ...
"):
:: poken_by_poken_by_Cookie_Monster">Cookie_Monster.html"_;"title="poken_by_Cookie_Monster">poken_by_Cookie_Monster''Me_so_hungry.''_
::(''the_above_example_also_employs_copula_deletion_to_similar_effect'')
_French
Old_French_had_a_nominative_case_and_an_oblique_case,_called__and__respectively.
In_Modern_French,_the_two_cases_have_mostly_merged_and_the_''cas_régime''_has_survived_as_the_sole_form_for_the_majority_of_nouns._For_example,_the_word_"''conte''_(tale)":
*Old_French:_
**Nominative:_li__(singular),_li__(plural)
**Oblique:_le__(singular),_les__(plural)
*Modern_French:
**_le__(singular),_les__(plural)
In_some_cases,_both_the_''cas_sujet''_and_''cas_régime''_of_one_noun_have_survived_but_produced_two_nouns_in_Modern_French_with_different_meanings._For_example,_today's__means_"friend"_and__means_"companion",_but_in_Old_French_these_were_different_declensions_of_the_same_noun.
_Kurdish
.html"_;"title="Cookie_Monster.html"_;"title="poken_by_Cookie_Monster">poken_by_Cookie_Monster">Cookie_Monster.html"_;"title="poken_by_Cookie_Monster">poken_by_Cookie_Monster''Me_so_hungry.''_
::(''the_above_example_also_employs_copula_deletion_to_similar_effect'')
_French
Old_French_had_a_nominative_case_and_an_oblique_case,_called__and__respectively.
In_Modern_French,_the_two_cases_have_mostly_merged_and_the_''cas_régime''_has_survived_as_the_sole_form_for_the_majority_of_nouns._For_example,_the_word_"''conte''_(tale)":
*Old_French:_
**Nominative:_li__(singular),_li__(plural)
**Oblique:_le__(singular),_les__(plural)
*Modern_French:
**_le__(singular),_les__(plural)
In_some_cases,_both_the_''cas_sujet''_and_''cas_régime''_of_one_noun_have_survived_but_produced_two_nouns_in_Modern_French_with_different_meanings._For_example,_today's__means_"friend"_and__means_"companion",_but_in_Old_French_these_were_different_declensions_of_the_same_noun.
_Kurdish
Kurdish_languages">Kurdish
_
Kurdish_may_refer_to:
*Kurds_or_Kurdish_people
*Kurdish_languages
*Kurdish_alphabets
*Kurdistan,_the_land_of_the_Kurdish_people_which_includes:
**Southern_Kurdistan
**Eastern_Kurdistan
**Northern_Kurdistan
**Western_Kurdistan
_See_also
*_Kurd_(dis_...
_has_an_oblique_for_pronouns,_objects,_and_for_objects_of_Ezāfe.html" ;"title="Kurdish_languages.html" "title="Cookie_Monster.html" ;"title="Cookie_Monster.html" ;"title="poken by Cookie Monster">poken by Cookie Monster">Cookie_Monster.html" ;"title="poken by Cookie Monster">poken by Cookie Monster''Me so hungry.''
::(''the above example also employs copula deletion to similar effect'')
French
Old French had a nominative case and an oblique case, called and respectively.
In Modern French, the two cases have mostly merged and the ''cas régime'' has survived as the sole form for the majority of nouns. For example, the word "''conte'' (tale)":
*Old French:
**Nominative: li (singular), li (plural)
**Oblique: le (singular), les (plural)
*Modern French:
** le (singular), les (plural)
In some cases, both the ''cas sujet'' and ''cas régime'' of one noun have survived but produced two nouns in Modern French with different meanings. For example, today's means "friend" and means "companion", but in Old French these were different declensions of the same noun.
Kurdish
Kurdish languages">Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
has an oblique for pronouns, objects, and for objects of Ezāfe">Izafe constructs.
See also
*Object pronoun, which in English take the oblique case
*Oblique argument
*Object (grammar)
*Subject pronoun
*Disjunctive pronoun
*Quirky subject
References
[Waziri Pashtu Dialect]
oblique case is also found in Waziri Pashtu dialect of Pashtu, especially people living in Waziristan. For example; kalai is singular nominative and kalee is plural and kalye is oblique plural which means village
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oblique Case
Grammatical cases