declension
Let an agent handle declension as a grammatical system with cases, classes and paradigms that vary by language.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent handle declension as a grammatical system with cases, classes and paradigms that vary by language.
In grammar, the inflection of nouns, pronouns and adjectives for case, number and gender, and the classes (declensions) into which such words fall according to their patterns.
What it is for: Marking grammatical relations such as subject and object in languages with case systems.
It can be decline a word, into its forms; identify its declension class; analyse texts, by case; teach and learn paradigms.
Distinguishing features
Inflection of nominals, not verbs (that is conjugation)
Case systems vary from none to many cases
Words fall into declension classes
Some languages mark case with particles instead
What it looks like
Tables of word forms by case and number, or endings in text.
How it is recognised
Paradigm tables with cases such as nominative, genitive, dative, accusative
Endings that change with case
Class names such as n-declension
Related models
is a kind of - grammatical process
marks - category
is confused with - verb inflection
is studied by - morphology
In practice
Families and kinds
Latin and Greek declensions
German declension
Slavic declensions
Hindi and other Indo-Aryan declension
strong, weak and mixed adjective declension
Identifiers
Universal Dependencies feature Case=Nom|Gen|Dat|Acc... annotation
Standards and regulation
Universal Dependencies
Leipzig Glossing Rules
Failure modes and hazards
Assuming case systems from another language
Wrong forms in machine translation
Confusing declension classes
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
System Cases and numbers.
The case inventory defines the system.
Cases
Inventory.
Case inventory
Cases distinguished.
- Which cases does this language distinguish? definition
- Which are marked on this word class? definition
Agreement
Gender and number.
Agreement
Agreement features.
- How do gender and number interact with case? definition
- Which words must agree? definition
Classes Declension classes.
Class decides the endings.
Class
Which declension.
Class
The declension class.
- Which declension class does this word belong to? definition
- How is it determined? definition
Irregular forms
Exceptions.
Irregulars
Irregular forms.
- Does the word have irregular forms? boundary
- Where are they documented? provenance
Paradigm The forms.
Paradigms are the practical content.
Forms
Case forms.
Paradigm
The full paradigm.
- What are all the forms of this word? definition
- From which grammar or dictionary? provenance
Usage
Which form when.
Usage
When each form is used.
- Which form is needed in this sentence? action
- What governs the case here? definition
Technology Annotation and generation.
Tools must handle declension correctly.
Annotation
Case features.
Annotation
Annotation scheme.
- How is case annotated in this corpus? provenance
- How accurate is automatic tagging? measurement
Generation
Producing forms.
Generation
Generating forms.
- Does the system generate correct case forms? measurement
- Where does it fail? boundary
What the second pass must settle
- Should declension systems be separate entries per language?
- How should paradigms be stored?
- How should irregular forms be handled?