“Jag vill vara dig” - Nominative and oblique case in Modern Swedish
CASE marking yields contrasts like “JAG valde Maria” / “Maria valde MIG”, where JAG and MIG are the nominative and the oblique forms. Many languages have numerous cases, many have no cases, and some are case poor, like Swedish and most of the other Germanic languages. However, case marking in Swedish differs from case marking in other case poor languages in several ways, Swedish, e.g., generally applying the nominative as a predicative case (“Det är JAG”, cf. Danish “Det er MEG”). Nevertheless, the Swedish case system is in flux, partly heading towards a more English/Danish-like system and partly developing along lines special among the Germanic languages.
Some of the Swedish case variation is well known, commonly raising debates about what is correct language (“Hon är större än JAG/MIG”, etc.). However, most of the variation has actually gone unnoticed and scientific research on it is sparse. The overarching research question of this project is: Where is the Swedish case system heading and what are the probable effects of the ongoing changes? The goal is thus to accumulate knowledge about the Modern Swedish case variation and to develop a coherent understanding of its nature, limits and probable effects.