In linguistic typology, the case hierarchy denotes an order of grammatical cases. If a language has a particular case, it also has all cases lower than this particular case. To put it another way, if a language lacks a particular case, it is also unlikely to develop cases higher than this particular case. This theory was developed by the Australian linguist Barry Blake. His theory was inspired by the approach of Italian linguist Guglielmo Cinque. The hierarchy is as follows: NOM < ACC / ERG < GEN < DAT < LOC < ABL / INS < COM < others