[...] there is an unmistakable tendency to have the case (nominative) as well as the number (plural) clearly signalled. The form of the nominative singular does not make itself felt here directly, it merely participates in the paradigm. The strongest presence of this metalinguistic factor (regard to a particular case) is felt with what might be called the modified or "deformed" paradigms.
- Poldauf (2004), Pag. 4