Editing Grammatical case (section)

== Evolution ==
As languages evolve, case systems change. In early Ancient Greek, for example, the genitive and ablative cases of given names became combined, giving five cases, rather than the six retained in Latin. In modern [[Hindi]], the cases have been reduced to three: a direct case (for subjects and direct objects) and [[oblique case]], and a [[vocative case]].<ref>R. S. McGregor, ''Outline of Hindi Grammar'', Oxford University Press, 1972.</ref><ref>Spencer, A. (2005). Case in Hindi. In ''Proceedings of the LFG05 Conference''. Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/10/lfg05.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621095101/https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/10/lfg05.html |date=2021-06-21 }}</ref> In English, apart from the pronouns discussed above, case has vanished altogether except for the possessive/non-possessive dichotomy in nouns.

The evolution of the treatment of case relationships can be circular.<ref name=Blake />{{rp|pp.167–174}} [[Postposition]]s can become unstressed and sound like they are an unstressed syllable of a neighboring word. A postposition can thus merge into the stem of a head noun, developing various forms depending on the phonological shape of the stem. Affixes are subject to various phonological processes such as [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]], vowel centering to the [[schwa]], phoneme loss, and [[fusion (phonetics)|fusion]], and these processes can reduce or even eliminate the distinctions between cases. Languages can then compensate for the resulting loss of function by creating postpositions, thus coming full circle.

Recent experiments in agent-based modeling have shown how case systems can emerge and evolve in a population of language users.<ref>Remi van Trijp, "[http://www.remivantrijp.be/pubs/2012/vantrijp2012evolution.pdf The Evolution of Case Systems for Marking Event Structure] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618054951/http://www.remivantrijp.be/pubs/2012/vantrijp2012evolution.pdf |date=2013-06-18}}". In: Steels, Luc (Ed.), Experiments in Cultural Language Evolution, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2012, p. 169-205.</ref> The experiments demonstrate that language users may introduce new case markers to reduce the cognitive effort required for semantic interpretation, hence facilitating communication through language. Case markers then become generalized through analogical reasoning and reuse.