Documentation

Linglib.Fragments.Telugu.Case

Telugu Case Inventory #

@cite{krishnamurti-gwynn-1985} @cite{mcfadden-2018}

Telugu (Dravidian) has 5 core cases with agglutinative suffixes: NOM (∅), ACC (-ni), GEN (∅), DAT (-ki), and a locative postposition (-lō 'in'). @cite{krishnamurti-gwynn-1985} list these as the productive case/postposition forms for modern Telugu nominals.

Like Tamil and other Dravidian languages, Telugu shows a robust NOM-vs-oblique split in stem allomorphy: the nominative stem form differs from the form used in all nonnominative contexts (@cite{mcfadden-2018}). This split is predicted by the case containment hierarchy (@cite{caha-2009}), where all nonnominative cases include the ACC feature in their syntactic representation.

See Phenomena/Allomorphy/Studies/Aitha2026.lean for the full analysis of Telugu stem allomorphy patterns.

source
def Fragments.Telugu.Case.caseInventory :
List Core.Case

Telugu 5-case core inventory. ACC, GEN, DAT are inflectional suffixes within the prosodic word; LOC is realized by a postposition (-lō) in a separate prosodic word.

Equations
Instances For
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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.inventory_valid :
    Core.validInventory caseInventory = true

    Contiguous on Blake's hierarchy (ranks 6 down to 3).

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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.acc_nonnom :
    Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.isNonnom Core.Case.acc = true

    All nonnominative Telugu cases bear the ACC feature.

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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.gen_nonnom :
    Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.isNonnom Core.Case.gen = true
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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.dat_nonnom :
    Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.isNonnom Core.Case.dat = true
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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.loc_nonnom :
    Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.isNonnom Core.Case.loc = true
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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.nom_not_nonnom :
    Theories.Morphology.CaseContainment.isNonnom Core.Case.nom = false
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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.nom_vs_oblique_contiguous :
    { nom := 0, acc := 1, gen := 1, dat := 1 }.isContiguous = true

    Telugu's NOM-vs-oblique split is an ABB pattern — contiguous on the containment hierarchy, consistent with case-conditioned VI.

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    theorem Fragments.Telugu.Case.telugu_subset_tamil :
    (caseInventory.all fun (c : Core.Case) => List.elem c [Core.Case.nom, Core.Case.acc, Core.Case.gen, Core.Case.dat, Core.Case.loc, Core.Case.abl, Core.Case.inst, Core.Case.com]) = true

    Telugu and Tamil share the same core case spine on Blake's hierarchy. Both have NOM, ACC, GEN, DAT, LOC (Tamil additionally has ABL, INST, COM).