Instrumental case
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In linguistics, the instrumental case indicates that a noun is the instrument or means by which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or an abstract concept.
For example, in this Latin sentence:
- librum stylo scripsi.
the inflection of the noun indicates its instrumental role -- the nominative stylus changes to the ablative stylo. English, lacking an instrumental case, might use a preposition (usually with) to express the same meaning:
- I wrote the book with a pen.
The instrumental case appears in Old English, Georgian, Sanskrit, and the Balto-Slavic languages. An instrumental/comitative case is arguably present in Turkish and other Altaic languages.
Sources
- Instrumental Case in Tamil language (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book/chapter2/node24.html)
- The Instrumental Case in Russian language (http://www.du.edu/langlit/russian/instr.htm)
- What is instrumental case? (http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsInstrumentalCase.htm)
- Dictionary.com entry on instrumental case (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=instrumental%20case)
- Prepositions Governing the Instrumental Case in Russian (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/prepins.html)cs:Instrumentál
de:Instrumentalis es:Caso instrumental fr:Instrumental hr:Instrumental nl:Instrumentalis