case theory

1
Case Theory

• Muhammad Mubashar Subhani

2
definition

• The term case is from Latin casus, which is in
  turn a translation of the Greek ptosis fall.
  The term originally referred to verbs as well as
  nouns and the idea seems to have been of falling
  away from an assumed standard form......Blake
  200118

3
introduction

• The study of case has been an integral part of
  the study of clausal structure for centuries.
• In the ancient Greek tradition, for example, the
  actants of a clause were defined primarily in
  terms of semantic case notions like accusative
  accused/affected, dative giving, or vocative
  called/named.

4
Introd.....

• languages are classified by the case pattern
  exhibited by transitive and intransitive clauses,
  whereby the deeper distinction between ergative
  and accusative languages is taken to manifest
  itself in the grouping of the grammatical
  relations. In ergative languages, objects and
  intransitive subjects group together in terms of
  case marking in accusative languages, subjects
  of intransitives and transitive's are treated
  alike and are differentiated from objects in
  terms of case marking.

5
STANDARD THEORY OF CASE

• In generative grammar, case is considered to be a
  phenomenon of language that is not reducible to
  some smaller, more fundamental notions. Case is
  often visible in the form of case morphology,
  e.g., inflection and particles. However, an
  essential assumption is that abstract case exists
  without overt morphology. Thus, when we mention
  case, we are referring to abstract case and not
  case morphology

6
Case Filter

• Another important assumption is that an overt NP
  must have abstract case. This principle is known
  as Case Filter (Chomsky 1981). Abstract case is
  either structural or inherent. Structural case
  has some connection with structural positions and
  inherent case is associated with theta-roles
  (Chomsky 1981).

7
Case filter

• A module of the grammars that determines the
  distribution of NPs through a requirement that
  all NPs must be in case positions at S-structure,
  known as the case filter. Case positions are
  those governed by certain case assignors
• Verbs and prepositions govern and case-mark
  objects as accusative e.g.
• John saw him.
• John showed the picture to him.

8
Examples

• I saw him.
• I saw he.
• Me saw he.
• Me saw him.
• He saw me.
• He saw I.
• Him saw I.
• Him saw me.

9
Case contin.......

• Why are some of the examples good and the other
  bad?
• Because the pronouns are in the wrong case.

10
Where does case come from ?

• Case is assigned by certain elements.
• Verb assigns accusative case to their objects.
• Preposition assigns accusative case to their
  objects.
• Noun assigns genitive case to their subjects.

11
Morphological case in English
Feature Nominative Accusative Genitive
Proper Noun Jane Jane Janes
NP The Man The Man The Mans
1 sg I Me My
2 sg You You Your
3 sg M He Him His
3 sg F She her Her
3 sg N it it its





12
Case conti....
feature nominative accusative genitive
1 pl We us our
2 pl you you your
3 pl They them their
13
CASE

• Morphological case in English appears only on
  pronouns and not on proper names/nouns or Lexical
  NPs.

14
Cont........

• This is not case across languages. In many
  languages case is overtly marked on all NPs. This
  distinction between case and pre/postposition is
  not clear in many languages.

15
NPs

• Every NP has case
• NP will not be without case/ case less NP is not
  possible.

16
Cont.....

• No NP can take other NP Complement.
• Examples
• A picture him.
• A Picture of him.

17
Conti.....

• Adjective can not take NP as a direct compliment.
• e.g.
• Fond him
• Fond of him
• Interested him
• Interested in him

18
Conti.....

• Preposition can take NP as a complement
• Verb can take NP as a complement
• E.g. John saw him

19
Some exceptional cases

• There are some special cases that do not fit the
  regular case feature checking model depicted
  above. These include unaccusatives, Exceptional
  Case Marking (ECM) and small clause

20
(No Transcript)