Language Decoded – Nouns & Cases

Nouns are used for holding different positions in a sentence. These ‘positions’ are in relation to the central verb or action in a sentence. These positions are explained in different ways in different languages. Let us identify the positions first.

1. Nominative      –       the noun that performs the action.

2. Accusative        –       the noun on which the action is performed.

3. Dative                –       the noun FOR which an action is performed.

4. Instrumental    –       the noun BY which an action is performed.

5. Ablative             –       the noun FROM which an action is performed.

6. Genitive             –       the noun OF which another noun may be.

7. Locative             –       the noun WHERE something is being done.

8. Vocative            –       the noun WHOM one may address in speech

The rich man bought his wife the queen’s ring with his hard-earned money with immense joy from the best jeweler at the Central mall.

In the following article we are going to do a close analysis of how noun cases, just like any other aspect of grammar, is significant in translation. Translators and linguists will pay close attention to the syntax rules of noun-cases in the source and target languages.

Now look at the nouns in the sentence.

The rich man bought his wife the queen’s ring with his hard-earned money with immense joy from the best jeweler at the Central Mall.

Note that all the nouns are related to a single verb.

What is important is to note that ALL nouns of the sentence are related to the verb.

It is extremely important to understand this. It is the VERB that determines the role of a noun in a sentence. It is the CENTRAL part of any sentence. It is like a fulcrum around which all other aspects revolve or from which they hang or upon which they depend.

Each of the roles that a noun plays, as depicted in the above example, is called a CASE, i.e, the role of a noun in a sentence, in relation to a verb.  In most grammars of the world, there are three essential cases, while in classical grammars there up to seven or eight. Many languages use prepositions to present the cases.

Let’s analyze each of the above noun-cases:

To understand cases, we must first identify the main verb in the sentence. Here it is bought.

1. The first case is called the nominative or the subject. It represents the noun that PERFORMS the action / verb of the sentence. In this case, the rich man.

2. The next case is called the accusative or the direct object. This is the noun upon which the action is performed directly. As we see, the act of buying is performed on the ring. The queen’s ring, to be precise.

3. The third case is called the dative or the indirect object. It represents the noun for which the action is performed indirectly. In this case, the wife.

4. The next case is called the instrumental. It holds the noun, with which an action is performed. In English, it is used with the prepositions with or by.

5. The fifth case is called the ablative or represented with the preposition from in English. In this sentence, the Central mall is in the ablative case.

6. The sixth case is called the genitive or known as the possessive This may not be a classical noun-case, and usually is a supporting noun, which shows possession, or a noun of which another noun is to which it belongs. For example, we spoke of the ring. It is a queen’s ring. The noun ‘queen’ is only for qualifying, it is the noun to whom the ring belongs. Similarly, the ring is bought with money, specifically the MAN’s (his) money. Therefore, the man or the pronoun his are in the genitive case in this sentence.

7. The seventh case is called the locative case which shows position, location using the various prepositions of time and space.

8. The eight case is called the vocative, which is used to address a noun directly. There is no vocative case used in the example given above. It is used when we are directly addressing someone and calling out to them, usually in the second person.

How a translator, voiceover artiste, linguist and subtitling artiste addresses noun-cases may appear simple. It is important that translation agencies and translators pay close attention to the theory of cases to ensure that they are correctly applied, so that errors are avoided.

How Cases are Represented in Various Languages

In many languages such as Sanskrit and Kannada, cases are represented by suffixes or prefixes, i.e., declensions to nouns. In other languages such as English and Hindi, they are represented using prepositions to nouns.

Application of Noun Cases in Translation & Subtitles

Nouns Cases are one of the many elements that require close attention while translating. As we know, different languages address cases in different ways. The grammatical rules of one language cannot be applied while transferring the same message to another language.

Hence, while translating or subtitling content, we must be careful in selecting translators, and check that they have sound linguistic credentials.

WordPar International provides linguistic services including translation, subtitling voiceover. We select our linguists with utmost care, and all our partners are technically sound and academically proficient in translation and linguistics.

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