Modern Standard Arabic Case Inventory #
Three-case nominal inflection (Ryding §5, p. 165): nominative raf ʿ
(-u), genitive jarr (-i), accusative naSb (-a). Case marking
attaches as a word-final short-vowel suffix on triptote nouns, with
nunation (final -n) on indefinite nouns (Ryding §4.2.1, pp. 162–163).
The diptote declension (Ryding §4.2.1.4 p. 162; §5.4.2 p. 164) and the
sound-feminine-plural pattern (kalimaat-un / kalimaat-in /
kalimaat-in — genitive and accusative syncretized) collapse case
distinctions on selected NP types.
The dual takes its own pair of suffixes: -aani (nom) / -ayni (gen
& acc; Ryding p. 164). The sound-masculine-plural pattern parallels
this with -uuna (nom) / -iina (gen & acc).
Variety scope #
The MSA case system is largely absent from spoken Arabics (Ryding
§5 p. 166: "colloquial forms of Arabic do not have case marking").
This file is therefore MSA-specific; if an Egyptian-Arabic Case
fragment is added later it should expose caseInventory := ∅.
Inventory #
The three-case core: nominative, accusative, genitive (Ryding §5 p. 166).