Standard Lemma guide

genitive-accusative

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The use of genitive as a case of the grammatical object; exists at least in several Slavic and Finnic languages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Examples

  • The term "genitive-accusative" refers to the use of genitive form in accusative function. It is a phenomenon that has grown and been generalized from a special distinction in old Russian to the broad category of animateness in modern Russian. Genitive-Accusative in the Laurentian Primary Chronicle, Orrin Frink, The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1962), pp. 133-137, doi:10.2307/3086099
  • The paper deals with a long-standing problem of Slavic Historical Linguistics, which is the question why in the history of Old East Slavic (OESl) there occurred a substitution of the Adjective by the Genitive case of a noun as a means of expressing possession. The main postulate is that there existed a previously unnoticed connection between this substitution, on the one hand, and the rise of a new syncretic Accusative case form, known as Genitive-Accusative, on the other. It is suggested that the missing link underlying both processes is the intolerance of the language to Subject-Object ambiguity. The Rise of the Genitive-Accusative and Genitive of Possession in Old East Slavic, Elena Bratishenko, University of Calgary, 2007

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: objektiivinen genetiivi — Translations
  • Finnish: genetiiviakkusatiivi — Translations