German Case Inventory @cite{blake-1994}

German has 4 cases: NOM, ACC, GEN, DAT. This is the largest contiguous inventory possible without any peripheral (spatial) cases — exactly the "inner peripheral" boundary on Blake's hierarchy.

Syncretism

German has extensive syncretism, especially in the definite article:

• NOM/ACC syncretism: neuter and feminine (der/das/die paradigm)
• DAT/GEN syncretism: rare but occurs in some dialects

def Fragments.German.Case.caseInventory : List Core.Case

German 4-case inventory.

Equations

• Fragments.German.Case.caseInventory = [Core.Case.nom, Core.Case.acc, Core.Case.gen, Core.Case.dat]

theorem Fragments.German.Case.inventory_valid : Core.validInventory caseInventory = true

Contiguous on Blake's hierarchy (ranks 6, 6, 5, 4).

def Fragments.German.Case.neuterSyncretism : Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.Syncretism

NOM/ACC syncretism in neuter and feminine. Instantiates the cross-linguistic NOM/ACC pattern from Core.Case.Syncretism.

Equations

• Fragments.German.Case.neuterSyncretism = Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.nomAccSyncretism