1. Overview

Cases are grammatical markers that show the role of a noun in the sentence. They indicate relations such as subject, object, possession, location, source, means, cause, or time.

In Maþal, these relations are expressed directly on the noun itself rather than mainly through fixed word order or separate prepositions. This makes grammatical structure more explicit and allows word order to remain comparatively flexible.

A distinctive feature of Maþal is that case is marked by prefixes, not suffixes. These prefixes stand at the outer edge of the noun phrase and form a regular part of Maþal’s agglutinative structure. The case system is therefore central both to sentence grammar and to the expression of spatial, temporal, and logical relations.

2. Nominative Case

The nominative is the basic form of a noun in a sentence. It is used for the subject, in other words: the person or thing that does something, is something, or is described.

In English, this basic form usually has no special marking on ordinary nouns. In Maþal, this is the same: the nominative has no case prefix. The noun simply appears in its normal form.

What is special in Maþal is that the subject is capitalized in writing. This means that the nominative is often easy to recognize: it has no case prefix, and the subject noun is written with a capital letter.

Examples

• Sapeng a’benip. = The apple is ripe.
  Here Sapeng is nominative because it is the subject.

• Baltoþ a’garon. = Children walk.
  Here Baltoþ is nominative because it is the subject.

• Míne a’såhjem. = I hope.
  Here Míne is nominative because it is the subject.

• hung Pjúp a’franon. = These flowers grow.
  Here Pjúp is nominative because it is the subject. The determiner 'hung' (these) is not capitalized, even though it's at the beginning of the sentence.

• ming Gomp a’þainip. = My meal ends.
  Here Gomp is nominative because it is the subject. The determiner 'ming' is not capitalized.

The nominative is therefore the unmarked basic case of the subject. Other cases are shown by prefixes at the front of the noun phrase, but the nominative has no such marker.

3. Accusative Case

The accusative is the case used for the direct object. This means the person or thing that is directly affected by the action.

In English, the direct object usually comes after the verb. In a sentence like The apple hits a wall, a wall is the direct object because it is the thing being hit.

In Maþal, the accusative is marked by the prefix ei:. This is very useful, because Maþal does not rely on word order as strongly as English does. So even if the noun phrase is not placed directly after the verb, the prefix ei: shows immediately that it is the direct object and not the subject, location, source, or something else.

Examples

• Sapeng a’mairer ei:frumfiþ. = The apple will hit a wall.
  Here ei:frumfiþ is accusative because it is the thing being hit.

• vong Balt a’gunon ei:flaibung. = Our children eat the strawberries.
  Here ei:flaibung is accusative because it is the thing being eaten.

• Rikeng a’ska-baner ei:hageng. = The bear endangered the mouse.
  Here ei:hageng is accusative because it is the one directly affected.

• ei:hageng a’ska-baner Rikeng. = The bear endangered the mouse.
  This sentence means the same as the one above, even though the order is different. The prefix ei: still shows that hageng is the direct object. In English, changing the order of the bear and the mouse would change the entire meaning of the sentence. "The mouse endangered the bear." Quite the difference. In Maþal, however, the accusative marker ei: already shows that hageng is the direct object. The sentence can therefore be reordered without changing who does the action and who receives it.

The accusative is therefore very clear in Maþal: it marks the direct object, and it does so regardless of where that noun phrase stands in the sentence.

4. Genitive Case

The genitive is the case used for possession or a close relation between two nouns. In simple terms, it answers questions like whose?, of whom?, or of what?

In English, this is often shown with ’s or with of. For example, in the child’s hand, the child’s shows possession. In the roof of the house, of the house shows the same kind of relation in a different way.

In Maþal, the genitive is marked by the prefix ai:. This prefix is placed at the front of the noun phrase that expresses the possessor or related noun.

So if one noun belongs to another, is part of another, or is closely connected to another, Maþal shows this clearly with ai:.

Examples

• Boming ai:brylteng a’þandi tvanip yi:jeding. = The baby’s ball has rolled away.
  Here ai:brylteng is genitive because it shows whose ball it is.

• Tyltemaugeng a’skírer øi:táfsing ai:leming. = The kitten jumped onto the table.
  Here ai:leming is genitive because it means of the room or of the house, depending on your lexical interpretation of the compound phrase. If you use this example, you should only keep it if that genitive relation is already clear in your intended gloss.

• Skuleng ai:sýting a’skuler ei:Fánsong ai:sýting. = The person controlling the information controls the people seeking it.
  Here ai:sýting is genitive because it means of the information.

• Páþoþ ai:voukong a’þarkøno. = Some of the people shouted.
  Here ai:voukong is genitive because it means of the people.

• Móþoþ ai:voukong a’þarkøno au:uþ batla sýnt. = Many of the people shouted twice.
  Here ai:voukong is genitive because it means of the people.

These examples show that the genitive in Maþal is not limited to simple ownership. It can also show a broader relation such as part of a group, belonging to, or connected with something else.

The genitive is therefore the case of belonging and relation. In Maþal, it is always marked clearly by the prefix ai:.

11. The Noun Template

The full noun template is therefore:

[The Case Marker] : [Thematic Relation Prefix] - [Root] [Gender-Number Marker] [Definiteness Marker]

The case prefix is followed by a mid-colon.

A useful point of interpretation concerns the distinction between the Temporative and Instrumentative cases in expressions meaning “again.”

The difference depends primarily on agency:

• au: marks iteration in time and is preferred when the event is uncontrolled or when the meaning is “on another occasion”

• ou: marks means or manner and is preferred when repetition is deliberate, that is, when something is done again as a method or intentional re-performance

Thus:

• au: ryntiþ expresses “again” in the sense of another time or once more in time

• ou: ryntiþ expresses “again” in the sense of by repeating or through re-doing

Both are grammatical, but they encode different nuances:

• au: temporal repetition

• ou: repetition as means or method

This distinction illustrates the semantic precision of Maþal case marking.