however, do not rely so much on word order but instead alter the forms of the
words to signify their relations. Japanese, for example, uses word orderand
form, attaching particles to words to signify their function:Wais used for sub-
jects, andois used for objects. Thus, “I read this book” is expressed as follows:
- Watashi-wa kono hon-o yonda.
We know thatwatashiis the subject because of the particlewaattached to
it, and we know thathonis the object because of the particleo.Translated
literally, this sentence reads, “I this book read.” Notice, however, that we
also could state:
- Kono hon-o watashi-wa yonda.
This shift in word order (“This book I read”) would be appropriate if the
speaker wanted to emphasize that it was a particular book that he or she had read.
Even though the word order has changed, there is no confusion regarding subject
and object because the particle markers always signal the proper function.
We use a special term to describe changes in the forms of nouns based on
function—inflections.Some languages are more inflected than others, with
modern English being largely uninflected. At one time, however, English was
highly inflected, and it retains a vestige of this past in the various forms of its
pronouns, some of which change on the basis of whether they are functioning
as a subject or an object.
As indicated earlier, the relation of subjects and objects to a sentence is deter-
mined with respect to their relation to the action conveyed in the verb. More for-
mally, these relations are expressed in terms of case. When a noun or pronoun is
functioning as a subject, it is in thesubject,ornominative,case; when functioning
as an object, it is in theobjectivecase. However, case does not affect nouns in Eng-
lish, only pronouns—they change their form depending on how they function.
Consider sentence 6:
6.FredandIkissed Macarena.BothFredand the pronounIare part of the subject, so they are in the nomina-
tive case. When these words function as objects,Freddoes not change its form,
but the pronounIdoes, as in sentence 7:
- Macarena kissedFredandme.
Meis the objective case form of the personal pronounI.62 CHAPTER 3