A class of words with similar inflection rules is called an inflectional paradigm. Typically the similar rules amount to a unique set of affixes. Nominal inflectional paradigms are also called declensions, and verbal inflectional paradigms are also called conjugations. For example, in Old English nouns could be divided into two major declensions, the strong and the weak, inflected as is shown below:
| gender and number | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | ||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| case | Strong Noun Declension | |||||
| engel 'angel' | scip 'ship' | sorg 'sorrow' | ||||
| Nominative | engel | englas | scip | scipu | sorg | sorga |
| Accusative | engel | englas | scip | scipu | sorge | sorga/sorge |
| Genitive | engles | engla | scipes | scipa | sorge | sorga |
| Dative | engle | englum | scipe | scipum | sorge | sorgum |
| case | Weak Noun Declension | |||||
| nama 'name' | ēage 'eye' | tunge 'tongue' | ||||
| Nominative | nama | naman | ēage | ēagan | tunge | tungan |
| Accusative | naman | naman | ēage | ēagan | tungan | tungan |
| Genitive | naman | namena | ēagan | ēagena | tungan | tungena |
| Dative | naman | namum | ēagan | ēagum | tungan | tungum |
The terms "strong declension" and "weak declension" are primarily relevant to well-known dependent-marking languages (such as the Indo-European languages, or Japanese). In dependent-marking languages, nouns in adpositional phrases can carry inflectional morphemes. (Adpositions include prepositions and postpositions.) In head-marking languages, the adpositions can carry the inflection in adpositional phrases. This means that these languages will have inflected adpositions. In Western Apache (San Carlos dialect), the postposition -ká’ 'on' is inflected for person and number with prefixes.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | shi-ká | on me | noh-ká | on us two | da-noh-ká | 'on us' |
| 2nd | ni-ká | on you | nohwi-ká | 'on you two' | da-nohwi-ká | 'on you all' |
| 3rd | bi-ká | 'on him' | – | da-bi-ká | 'on them' | |
Traditional grammars have specific terms for inflections of nouns and verbs, but not for those of adpositions.
Read more about this topic: Inflection, Declension and Conjugation
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