Corpus-based Research on Grammatical Cases in the Finnish Language

施事、受事和经验者都标记在主格中，这在语言中是很常见的。同样，在许多语言中，受事、主位和方位格都标记在省略格中。为了解释这些事实，引入“语义宏规则”的概念可能是有用的。这个概念包括两个宏观：行动者和受动者。施事和其他一些题元角色可以归入施动者之下，受事和其他一些题元角色可以归入受动者之下。在芬兰语中，有一种奇特的现象，即主格、属格和部分格都可以用来表示主语和宾语。显然，行动者和受动者对解释芬兰语中核心论点的格标记没有帮助。然而，芬兰语和许多其他语言之间的大小写差异并不像看起来那么大。在芬兰语中，不是典型的受事者参与者的宾语和不是典型的施事者参与者的主语都充当主位论元，就像存在句和所有格结构的动词后论元一样。为了表明这些论点，主格和部分格都是可用的。主格主要是一个典型的行动者，但它也可以分配给一个主题论元。同样的，尽管部分式主要用于典型的受事者，但它也可以用于主位论元。与此相反，所有格只适用于典型的从属参与者，除非它被分配给非限定谓语的主语。

Among languages it is common that the agent, the effector and the experiencer are all marked in the nominative case. Similarly, in many languages the patient, the theme and the locative are all marked in the accusative case. To explain these facts it may be useful to introduce the concept 'semantic macrorole'. This concept comprises two macroroles : the actor and the undergoer. The agent and some other thematic roles can be subsumed under the actor, while the patient and some other thematic roles can be subsumed under the undergoer.In the Finnish language it is peculiar that the same set of cases, I.e.the nominative, the genitive and the partitive, is available to indicate both the subject and the object. Apparently the actor and the undergoer are not helpful to explain the case marking of core arguments in the Finnish language. However, the difference in the case marking between the Finnish language and many other languages is not so large as it looks. In the Finnish language both the object that is not a typical undergoer participant and the subject that is not a typical actor participant serve as a theme argument, just like the post-verbal argument of the existential sentence and the possessive construction. To indicate these arguments both the nominative and the partitive are available. The nominative is primarily the case for a typical actor indeed, but it can also be assigned to a theme argument. In the same way, although the partitive is primarily the case for a typical undergoer, it can also be assigned to a theme argument. The genitive, by contrast, is available only for a typical undergoer participant, except when it is assigned to the subject of a non-finite predicate.