sd ale , ▁Mississippi ▁Category : V ancouver ▁Mount ies ▁players ▁Category : W ashington ▁Sen ators ▁( 1 9 6 1 – 1 9 7 1 ) ▁players ▁Category : Wil son ▁Tob s ▁players <0x0A> </s> ▁In ▁lingu istics , ▁decl ension ▁is ▁the ▁changing ▁of ▁the ▁form ▁of ▁a ▁word , ▁generally ▁to ▁express ▁its ▁s ynt actic ▁function ▁in ▁the ▁sentence , ▁by ▁way ▁of ▁some ▁inf lection . ▁The ▁inf lection al ▁change ▁of ▁ver bs ▁is ▁called ▁conjug ation . ▁ ▁Dec l ensions ▁may ▁apply ▁to ▁n oun s , ▁pron oun s , ▁ad ject ives , ▁ad ver bs , ▁and ▁articles ▁to ▁indicate ▁number ▁( e . g . ▁singular , ▁dual , ▁pl ural ), ▁case ▁( e . g . ▁nomin ative ▁case , ▁accus ative ▁case , ▁gen itive ▁case , ▁d ative ▁case ), ▁gender ▁( e . g . ▁mascul ine , ▁neut er , ▁femin ine ), ▁and ▁a ▁number ▁of ▁other ▁gram mat ical ▁categories . ▁▁ ▁Dec l ension ▁occurs ▁in ▁many ▁of ▁the ▁world ' s ▁languages . ▁Dec l ension ▁is ▁an ▁important ▁aspect ▁of ▁language ▁families ▁like ▁American ▁( such ▁as ▁Que ch uan ), ▁Ind o - Europe an ▁( G erman , ▁S lav ic , ▁S ansk rit , ▁Latin ), ▁B ant u ▁( Z ulu , ▁K ik uy u ), ▁Sem it ic ▁( Mod ern ▁Standard ▁Arab ic ), ▁Fin no - U gr ic