American Journal Of Philological Sciences
109
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue06 2025
PAGE NO.
109-112
10.37547/ajps/Volume05Issue06-30
On the Reasons for The Diversity of The Cases in
Modern Russian Language
Yusupov Muratbek Rakhimovich
Senior Lecturer of the Department of Language and Literary Education, UBS, Namangan, Uzbekistan
Umarova Frangisbonu Furkatjon kizi
2nd year student of Russian Philology UBS, Uzbekistan
Received:
14 April 2025;
Accepted:
10 May 2025;
Published:
12 June 2025
Abstract:
This work is devoted to the study of the case system of the modern Russian language, taking into account
its historical development; the main stages of the formation and transformation of case forms are considered, as
well as the reasons for the ambiguity of modern cases in connection with the merging of extinct cases with them.
Keywords:
Method, methodology, case, case system, modern Russian language, Old Russian language, Old Church
Slavonic.
Introduction:
Folklore A major challenge in teaching
Russian is grammar, including the case system, case
meanings, the system of their endings, and agreement
with other words in syntactic units. Many Russian
language learners find it difficult to understand the
polysemy of cases. All this determines the relevance of
our research.
The object of our research is the morphological system
of the Russian language, the subject with its case
system.
The purpose of our research is to identify the reasons
for the polysemy of Russian cases.
To achieve the research goal, we have to solve the
following tasks:
- study the case system of Old Slavic, Old Slavic, and Old
Russian languages;
- to identify cases absent in modern Russian;
- to study the meanings of the missing cases;
- to determine which cases of modern Russian have
merged with the disappeared ancient cases.
METHODOLOGY
The history of the formation and development of cases
has been studied by renowned linguists from various
countries: M. Deitchbein, B.A. Ilyin, E. Kurilovich, H.
Brinkmann, G. Glins, I. Erben, and many others.
R. Jacobson[4] believed that the system of cases should
be considered in unity, based on the relationship of
oppositions that unite them into a noun paradigm.
A.V. Bondarko notes that morphological categories
always have a certain relationship to syntax, a
particular exit into the sentence structure: each
morphological category has a certain syntactic
orientation, a syntactic perspective [1].
Analyzing the works of linguists, we can distinguish
three main approaches to considering the category of
case: morphological, formal, and syntactic.
Based on the theoretical provisions of Russian and
foreign scholars, we consider the case as a
morphological category.
The main research methods are historical-comparative,
descriptive.
RESULTS
Before adopting its modern form, Russian cases
underwent various changes throughout their long
history of formation. In modern Russian, the main cases
are the nominative, genitive, genitive, accusative,
instrumental, and prepositional cases, which we learn
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
110
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2273)
about in primary school. However, there are also
"forgotten" cases in the Russian language (the ancient
Russian language system included 14 cases) [8]. "Ivan
gave birth to a girl, ordered to carry the blanket" is a
famous phrase that helps many remember the order of
Russian cases. In this article, we will trace the paths of
the Russian language's case category formation and the
emergence of case names themselves. As well as the
very word "case."
It is important to note that the term "case" is a calque
from ancient Greek and Latin, and in modern Russian
this term came from Old Slavic. The word "case" was a
literal translation of the Greek word ptosis, a suffixal
derivative of the verb pipto - "to fall." Linguists of
Ancient Greece noticed a certain similarity between the
fact that when bones are thrown, they fall sometimes
to one side, sometimes to the other, and the change
("falling") of a noun to obtain a particular case ending.
As an example, let's consider the following expressions
from the SIU:
I went to the movies with my friend - I went to the
movies with my friend.
From the proposed word combinations, it is clear that
in the first case, we have a set of words that are not
grammatically connected to each other and have an
unclear meaning. In the second case, the words are
connected grammatically, and the expression acquired
meaning. This happened thanks to cases.
Thus, the case system of modern Russian is based on
the case systems of the Proto-Slavic and Old Slavic
languages, while the names of some cases themselves
are calques from the Greek case system.
The nominative case represents the only direct case
that does not require prepositions when used.
Therefore, the nominative case was previously called
"Rect." This name was invented by the Greek
philologist Maximus Grek at the end of the 16th
century. The nominative direct case was first proposed
in his work "Grammar" by philologist scholar Meleti
Smotritsky: he simply translated the direct case name
from ancient Greek. The direct case in translation
means "to have, to call a name," i.e., the nominative
case is the case that calls a name, a title.
Examples: Singular Plural
Who? Father-in-law
What? bouki boukvi [3]
The genitive case was initially called genitive. In
grammar, it received its name in the 14th century,
translated as "born." In ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Latin,
Hittite, and other early languages, the genitive case had
complex and important functions. In the Proto-Slavic
language, from which the Russian language originated,
it was already actively used - this is approximately the
1st millennium AD. In ancient Russian, the genitive case
was even used instead of the accusative case in the
case of negation (I don't see a person - a person in the
genitive case, not in the accusative case). In modern
Russian, the main function of the genitive case is to
denote the genus, origin, and classification of an object
according to similar classes.
Example: Single number Plural number
Who? The father-in-law
What's up?
The genitive case in Old Slavic served the same
functions as in modern Russian, although its form and
usage may differ somewhat.
The dative case was also previously called the dative
case. This name was borrowed from the Old Slavic
language, which in turn was borrowed from the Greek
language. Thus, translated from Greek, it means
"giving." In the name of this case, the connection with
the verb "to give" is clearly visible. Therefore, the main
meaning of the Dative case is that it is used to name the
addressee or the name of the person to whom
something is given. That is, it originally designated the
recipient of the action - the one to whom something is
given or to whom the action is directed. The category
of the dative case appeared in ancient languages and
passed into Slavic languages, including Russian.
Example: Single number Plural number
To whom? Father-in-law to father-in-law
What? Boukvi boukvam'
Title The accusative case was introduced by one of the
first Russian grammarians, Laurentius Zisanius, in the
16th century: he translated it from Greek as "causal."
At the same time, the name of the case was given
according to the
word "вина," in the semantics of
which in the ancient Russian and Old Slavic languages
there was a meaning - "cause." In modern Russian, the
accusative case denotes the object to which the action
is directed.
For example: Singular Plural
Who? Boukvi boukvi
What? Mother-in-law
The instrumental case, like the accusative case, was
introduced into Russian grammar by Lavrentius
Zisanius in 1596. The name of this case is directly
related to the verb "to do," which implies doing
something with the help of some tool, means. The
meaning of the instrumental case is instrumental and
instrumental. In modern Russian, it is often used in
combination with the verbs of movement and action,
which imply the use of some means or tool. It can also
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
111
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2273)
indicate the time of action or even express an opinion
or evaluation (e.g., adjectives), for example, This film
was interesting to all viewers.
For example: Singular Plural
By whom? To the father-in-law and mother-in-law
With what? Boukviyu (-yu) boukvami
The propositional case was formed by combining two
cases - locative and predicative. This combination is due
to the fact that the forms of the indicated cases were
always used exclusively with a preposition, to which
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov drew attention in
"Russian Grammar."
For example: Singular Plural
About whom? About father-in-law and father-in-law
About what? Bowqwe bowqwe
In modern Russian, students and pupils study only 6
cases, and no one is interested in the history of cases.
There were 14 of them once. These include:
- vocative case;
- Locative case;
- quantitative-separative case;
- Decisive case;
- waiting case;
- transformative case;
- Ablative case;
- counting case.
Let's examine these cases in more detail.
Invitative case. In ancient Russian, there was a seventh
case - vocative. Over time, after the 1918 reform, it
disappeared, but in some languages - for example,
Belarusian, Serbian, and Greek - it is still used. In the
Church Slavonic language, its forms have also been
preserved. Sometimes the vocative case can be found
in literature to convey an old style of speech, for
example, "What do you need, old man?" (A.S. Pushkin).
And in everyday speech, we still use the remnants of
the vocative case when we call someone: "Mash!,"
"Tan!," "Mam!."
The summons case was abolished due to its similarity
to the nominative case and as an excessive element of
the
Russian
language's
grammatical
system.
Nevertheless, forms like "papa," "mama," "An," "Vik"
used in addresses are difficult to classify as full-fledged
nouns.
Locative case. Previously, in Old Slavic and Old Russian,
there was a special locative case - it indicated where
the action was taking place. In the 17th century, it
began to be called "narrative," and then M.V.
Lomonosov gave it the modern name - "predicate,"
because it answered two questions: "about what?" and
"where?." For example, you can say: "to think about a
room" and "to be in a room," "to talk about a square"
and "to stand in a square."
Quantitative-separative case. This case was
considered a variation of the genitive and was
sometimes called a distinctive case. He answered the
same questions as his parent, but at the same time
performed separate functions. Its main purpose is to
indicate the part separated from the whole, or the
quantity, but not the belonging. The significant
difference is that it was not used in relation to animate
nouns.
For example, to drink a cup of coffee is the quantitative-
separative case; to drink coffee is the genitive case;
Decisive case. This case represented a special wine
form that was used only in negative constructions. For
example, it says "don't know the truth," not "don't
know the truth," as in the conditional version. Similarly,
with the expression "to have no right." The presence of
cases indicated the absence of something. In modern
Russian, such differences have almost disappeared,
and the diminutive case can no longer be considered
independent.
In some cases, the words remain in the accusative
form: not to drive a car (not cars).
Wait case. In modern Russian, he uses this case, which
in practice coincides with the genitive case, but at the
same time covered the forms of both genitive and
accusative cases. For example, you can say "wait (for
whom? what?) " or "wait (for whom? what?)." In
sentences like "wait for a letter" or "wait for letters,"
"wait for the weather" or "wait for the weather," the
meaning remains the same. However, for words like
"sister" and "mother," although it would be
appropriate to use the genitive case according to
grammar, it would be more correct to say "wait for
sister" and "wait for mother" using the accusative case.
Transformative case (inclusive). This case is closely
related to the accusative case. For example,
expressions like "to run for deputy" or "to be useful as
a son." Vasya decided to become a pilot. In this
sentence, the noun "pilots" is in the plural and must be
used in the accusative case. Although the form of the
word coincides with the form of the nominative case in
the plural, it answered the questions of the accusative
case. In modern Russian, the transformative case has
also disappeared and merged with the accusative case.
Ablative case (depositive). The form of this case
resembles the form of the genitive case used with
prepositions like "with," "from," "from," and
sometimes - with the instrumental case. This case
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
112
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2273)
indicates the trajectory of movement, more precisely,
the starting point of the path. The answers to the
questions "from whom?," "from where?," "from
what?" are given by words in the ablative case: from
the forest, from the house. At the same time, the noun
becomes unstressed, which can be confirmed by an
excerpt from Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov's poem
"Peasant Children": "I came out of the forest; there was
a severe frost...."
Counting case. This case was used in counting in the
past. Before the reform of the Russian language at the
beginning of the 20th century, it differed from the
genitive case in some meanings, although it had the
same grammatical forms, but now it has merged with
the genitive case. For example, it is correct to say "three
hours," not "hours."
An independent group consists of nouns formed from
adjectives. In the counting case, they answer the
questions of the adjectives from which they originated,
and in the plural. For example, "there are no (who?
what?) inspectors," but "three (what?) inspectors."
The "forgotten" cases did not disappear entirely from
the language as a result of reforms: in various
constructions, we can observe them in modern
Russian. Many of them have joined with the main
cases. For example, the vocative and locative: the
vocative case merged with the nominative and now
answers its questions, however, having lost its syntactic
function, it retained the vocative function. The locative
case has merged with the preposition and is used to
indicate the place of action... But even in their
combined form, they make our speech richer, although
they complicate the grammar.
Zizaniy, Smotritsky, and Lomonosov made significant
contributions to the development of the Russian case
system. In their scientific activities, they not only
described the existing case structure but also adapted
it to consider the influence of other languages,
including ancient Greek and Latin. Smotritsky and
Zizani, based on these languages, translated and
transferred their grammatical models into Slavic
languages. This helped to systematize cases, including
those that later disappeared from active use.
Lomonosov, in turn, significantly simplified the system
in his "Russian Grammar," leaving 6 cases that have
survived in modern Russian. He focused on basic cases
that remained important for understanding and
communication, and abandoned less common forms
such as vocative and locative cases.
CONCLUSION
Having studied the case system of Old Slavic, Old Slavic,
and Old Russian languages, we discovered that at
different stages of language development, the number
and meanings of cases constantly changed under the
influence of internal and external linguistic factors.
In Old Slavic, Old Slavic, and Old Russian languages,
cases such as counting, originative (delayed),
transformative
(inclusive),
waiting,
omissive,
quantitative-separative,
locative,
and
vocative
functioned with varying intensity.
The meanings of the disappeared cases have been
identified by us and, in our opinion, are detailed in the
research results.
We have clarified: with the development of the case
system, the now-defunct ancient Russian cases have
merged with those cases that exist in modern Russian
morphology. For example, the vocative case merged
with the nominative case and now answers its
questions, the locative case with the preposition,
indicating the place of action. The other cases merged
with the genitive and accusative cases. They perform
some functions of these cases and enriched their
meaning.
Thus, the process of combining cases, along with the
simplification of the system, led to the polysemy of
cases, which, in our opinion, complicated their study.
REFERENCES
Бондарко А.В. Теория морфологических категорий.
Л., 1976 (2
-
е изд. —
М., 2005 под загл. «Теория
морфологических категорий и аспектологические
исследования»).
Глины // Большая российская энциклопедия. Том 7.
—
М., 2007. —
С. 240—
241
Иванов В.В. Историческая грамматика русского
языка. М. Просвещение. pdf
Якобсон Р. О. Некоторые вопросы лингвистической
семантики. Доклад на учёном совете Института
русского языка АН СССР. // Незабытые голоса
России: Звучат голоса отечественных филологов.
Вып. I. —
М.: Языки славянских культур, 2009. —
С.
189
—
196.
Яцимирский А. И.,. Эрбен, Карл
-
Яромир //
Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в
86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). —
СПб., 1890—
1907.
Brinkman H. C. Heat effects in capillary flow I // Applied
scientific research. A., Mechanics, heat, chemical
engineering, mathematical methods.
—
The Hague:
Nijhoff, 1951.
—
Т. 2. —
С. 120
-124.
—
doi:10.1007/BF00411976.
Jerzy Kurylowicz // Annuaire prosopographique : la
France savante / под ред. B. Delmas, Р. Матис —
2009.
https://nsportal.ru/ap/library/drugoe/2019/08/09/ist
oriya-padezhey-russkogo-yazyka
