Direct Case

In Indo-Aryan languages, and Eastern Iranian languages, the direct case (abbreviated DIR) is the name given to a grammatical case used with all three core relations: the agent of transitive verbs, the patient of transitive verbs, and the argument of intransitive verbs. Such a case may also be called the nominative case, but some linguists reserve that term for cases that cover other roles or combinations of roles.

In languages of the Philippines and related languages with Austronesian alignment, the direct case, also called the absolutive, is the case of the argument of an intransitive clause, and may be used for either argument (agent or patient) of a transitive clause, depending on the voice of the verb. The other argument of a transitive clause may either be ergative or accusative, or in Tagalog a single case called indirect.

Famous quotes containing the words direct and/or case:

    Authority and power are two different things: power is the force by means of which you can oblige others to obey you. Authority is the right to direct and command, to be listened to or obeyed by others. Authority requests power. Power without authority is tyranny.
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    If there is a case for mental events and mental states, it must be that the positing of them, like the positing of molecules, has some indirect systematic efficacy in the development of theory.
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