Editing Grammatical case (section)

=== Australian Aboriginal languages ===
[[Australian Aboriginal languages|Australian languages]] represent a diversity of case paradigms in terms of their alignment (i.e. [[Nominative–accusative alignment|nominative-accusative]] vs. [[Ergative–absolutive alignment|ergative-absolutive]]) and the morpho-syntactic properties of case inflection including where/how many times across a noun phrase the case morphology will appear. For typical [[r-expression]] noun phrases, most Australian languages follow a basic ERG-ABS template with additional cases for peripheral arguments; however, many Australian languages, the function of case marking extends beyond the prototypical function of specifying the syntactic and semantic relation of an NP to a predicate.<ref name=":0">Senge, Chikako. 2015. ''A Grammar of Wanyjirra, a language of Northern Australia''. The Australian National University Ph.D.</ref> Dench and Evans (1988)<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dench|first1=Alan|last2=Evans|first2=Nicholas|date=1988-06-01|title=Multiple case-marking in Australian languages|journal=Australian Journal of Linguistics|volume=8|issue=1|pages=1–47|doi=10.1080/07268608808599390|issn=0726-8602}}</ref> use a five-part system for categorizing the functional roles of case marking in Australian languages. They are enumerated below as they appear in Senge (2015):<ref name=":0" />

# '''Relational''': a suffix which represents syntactic or semantic roles of a noun phrase in clauses.
# '''Adnominal''': a suffix which relates a noun phrase to another within the one noun phrase.
# '''Referential''': a suffix which attaches to a noun phrase in agreement with another noun phrase which represents one of the core arguments in the clause.
# '''Subordinating''': a suffix which attaches to elements of a subordinate clause. Its functions are: (i) specifying temporal or logical (typically, causal and purposive) relationships between two clauses (Temporal-subordinator); (ii) indicating coreferential relationships between arguments in the two clauses (Concord-subordinator).
# '''Derivational''': a suffix which attaches to a bare stem before other case suffixes and create a new lexical item.

To illustrate this paradigm in action, take the case-system of [[Wanyjirra language|Wanyjirra]] for whose description Senge invokes this system. Each of the case markers functions in the prototypical relational sense, but many extend into these additional functions:
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |Derivational
! rowspan="2" |Adnominal
! rowspan="2" |Relational
! rowspan="2" |Referential
! colspan="2" |Subordinator
|-
!C-SUB*
!T-SUB*
|-
![[Ergative case|Ergative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Dative case|Dative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Locative case|Locative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Allative case|Allative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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!Purposive
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Ablative case|Ablative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Elative case|Elative]]
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Comitative case|Comitative]]
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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!Originative
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|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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!Proprietive
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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![[Privative case|Privative]]
|<nowiki>+</nowiki>
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[[Wanyjirra language|Wanyjirra]] is an example of a language in which case marking occurs on all sub-constituents of the NP; see the following example in which the demonstrative, head, and quantifier of the noun phrase all receive ergative marking:

{{interlinear|indent=2
| yalu-nggu mawun-du gujarra-lu ngu{{=}}wula yunbarn-ana junba
| DIST-ERG man-ERG two-ERG REAL{{=}}3.AUG.SBJ sing-PRES corroboree.ABS
| Those two men are singing corroboree.}}

However, this is by no means always the case or even the norm for Australian languages. For many, case-affixes are considered special-clitics (i.e. phrasal-affixes, see Anderson 2005<ref>{{cite book|last =Anderson|first =Stephen|date =2005|title =Aspects of the Theory of Clitics|publisher =Oxford University Press|doi =10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279906.001.0001|isbn =978-0-19-927990-6|url =http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279906.001.0001/acprof-9780199279906|archive-date =2018-06-02|access-date =2020-07-01|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180602060449/http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279906.001.0001/acprof-9780199279906|url-status =live}}</ref>) because they have a singular fixed position within the phrase. For [[Bardi language|Bardi]], the case marker usually appears on the first phrasal constituent<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bowern|first=Claire|title=A grammar of Bardi|date=2013|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|isbn=978-3-11-027818-7|location=Berlin|oclc=848086054}}</ref> while the opposite is the case for [[Wangkatja language|Wangkatja]] (i.e. the case marker is attracted to the rightmost edge of the phrase).<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Shoulson|first=Oliver|date=2019|title=Case Suffixes as Special Clitics in Wangkatja|language=en|doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.10204.00649}}</ref> See the following examples respectively:

{{interlinear|indent=2
|top= '''Bardi'''<ref name=":1" />
| Boordiji-nim niiwandi aamba i-na-m-boo-na aril
| fat-ERG tall man 3-TR-PST-poke-REM.PST fish
| The tall fat man speared a fish.}}

{{interlinear|indent=2
|top= '''Wangkatja'''<ref name=":2" /><ref>Wangkatja dictionary 2008. (2008). Port Hedland, W.A: Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.</ref>
| tjitji warta purlkana-ngka nyinarra-nyi
| child tree big-LOC sitting-?
| 'The child is sitting in the big tree.'}}