# Direct case

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{{Short description|Grammatical case}}
{{distinguish|direct object}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2019}}

A '''direct case''' ([abbreviated](/source/list_of_glossing_abbreviations) {{sc|'''dir'''}}) is a [grammatical case](/source/grammatical_case) used with all three [core relation](/source/morphosyntactic_alignment)s: both the [agent](/source/agent_(grammar)) and [patient](/source/patient_(grammar)) of transitive verbs and the argument of [intransitive verb](/source/intransitive_verb)s, though not always at the same time. The direct case contrasts with other cases in the language, typically [oblique](/source/oblique_case) or [genitive](/source/genitive_case).

The direct case is often imprecisely called the "nominative" in South Asia and "absolutive" in the Philippines, but linguists typically reserve those terms for grammatical cases that have a narrower scope. (See [nominative case](/source/nominative_case) and [absolutive case](/source/absolutive_case).)  A direct case is found in several [Indo-Iranian languages](/source/Indo-Iranian_languages); there it may contrast with an oblique case that marks some core relations, so the direct case does not cover all three roles in the same tense.  For example, Dixon<ref>R. M. W. Dixon, ''Ergativity'', p. 202</ref> describes "[proto-Pamir](/source/Pamir_languages)" as having, in the present tense, the direct case for S and A and the oblique case for O (a nominative–accusative alignment), and, in the past tense, the direct for S and O and the oblique for A (an absolutive–ergative alignment).  Because of this split (see [split ergativity](/source/split_ergativity)), neither "nominative" nor "absolutive" is an adequate description of the direct case, just as neither "accusative" nor "ergative" is an adequate description of the oblique case.

The [Scottish Gaelic](/source/Scottish_Gaelic) ''nominative'' case is also an example of a direct case, which evolved as the accusative became indistinguishable in both speech and writing from the nominative as a result of phonetic change. The situation in the [Irish language](/source/Irish_language) is similar, though some pronouns retain a distinction (e.g. "you" (singular) - nominative ''tú'', accusative ''thú'')

In languages of the Philippines, and in related languages with [Austronesian alignment](/source/Austronesian_alignment), the direct case is the case of the argument of an intransitive clause (S), and may be used for either argument of a transitive clause (agent or patient), depending on the [voice](/source/grammatical_voice) of the verb. The other transitive argument will be in either the ergative or accusative case if different cases are used for those roles.  In languages where a single case is used for the other argument, as in [Tagalog](/source/Tagalog_language), it is called the '''indirect case'''.  This is analogous to the direct–oblique distinction in proto-Pamir, but with the split conditioned by voice rather than by tense.

==References==

<references />
*{{cite book |last=Blake |first=Barry J. |edition=Second |orig-year=1994 |year=2001  |title=Case |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521807611 |page=199}}

==External links==
*{{wti}}

{{Grammatical cases}}

Category:Grammatical cases

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