scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Case Markers in Korean, Japanese and Ryukyuan Languages: Focusing on Nominative Case Markers and Accusative Case Markers

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (null) ◽  
pp. 355-377
Author(s):  
이갑
2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Anne Legate

This article examines the relationship between abstract and morphological case, arguing that morphological case realizes abstract Case features in a postsyntactic morphology, according to the Elsewhere Condition. A class of prima facie ergative-absolutive languages is identified wherein intransitive subjects receive abstract nominative Case and transitive objects receive abstract accusative Case; these are realized through a morphological default, which is often mislabeled as absolutive. Further support comes from split ergativity based on a nominal hierarchy, which is shown to have a morphological source. Proposals that case and agreement are purely morphological phenomena are critiqued.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Saud A. Mushait

The study explores the derivation of wh-questions in Najrani Arabic and attempts to answer the following questions: (i) Can wh-questions in Najrani Arabic be derived in VSO or SVO or both?, and (ii) How can Najrani Arabic wh-questions be accounted for within Chomsky’s (2001,2005, 2013,2015 ) Phase approach? The objective of the study is to present a unified analysis of the derivation of wh-questions in Najrani Arabic and show the interaction between Najrani Arabic data and Chomsky’s Phase framework. It has been shown that Najrani Arabic allows the derivation of wh-questions from the argument and non-argument positions in VSO word order. Given this, we assume that VSO is the unmarked order for the derivation of wh-questions in Najrani Arabic. In VSO, the subject DP does not raise to Spec-TP because the head T does not have the EPP feature: the latter attracts movement of the former. The verb raises to the head T of TP, while the subject DP remains in-situ in Spec-vP. Moreover, in Najrani Arabic intransitive structures, the phase vP does not have a specifier because it does not have an external thematic argument whereas in transitive constructions the vP has. Concerning case assignment, the phase vP merges with an abstract tense af (fix) on the head T, which agrees with and assigns invisible nominative case to the subject wh-word man ‘who’. We assume that the phase head C is the probe and has the Edge feature which attracts the raising of the subject wh-phrase to Spec-CP. Besides, we argue that the light transitive head v has an Edged feature which attracts the raising of the object wh-phrase aish ‘what’ to be the second (outer) specifier of vP. Being the phase head, the v probes for a local goal and finds the object wh-phrase aish; the v agrees with and assigns accusative case to the object wh-phrase aish. As the TP merges with a null interrogative head C, the phase head C has an Edge feature that attracts the raising of the object wh-word aish to Spec-CP for feature valuation. Following this, the null copies of the moved entities left after movement receive a null spellout in the phonological level and, hence, cannot be accessed for any further operation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Roland Wagner

Abstract In the article, I deal with an apparent case of incoherence within the framework of Functional Generative Description (FGD) in treating certain reflexive constructions. According to the principle that differences between valency frames are constitutive for establishing different lexical units (e.g., Žabokrtský and Lopatková, 2007), the occurrences of vnímat in (i) Vnímá syna jako soka and (ii) Sám se vnímá jako síla ochraňující divadlo have to be assigned to two different lexical units, as there is a difference in the formal marking of the Effect-argument (jako+accusative case in (i), jako+nominative case in (ii)). On the basis of the commutation test (e.g., Panevová, 2008) which identifies the reflexive clitic se in (ii) as an object-clitic, both occurrences of vnímat have to be, however, assigned to the same lexical unit as the only difference between vnímá syna in (i) and vnímá se in (ii) consists in the lexical filling of the object position. In the main part of the text, I review two different strategies to remedy the conflict between the two principles. I point out certain implications of both strategies and conclude by pleading for a solution within the framework of Modified Valency Theory (Karlík, 2000a)


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Al-Bataineh

This paper examines the syntactic structure of Arabic vocatives, focusing on Case-marking of vocatives. The assignment of accusative and nominative Case can be accounted for in the light of Hill (2017) and Larson (2014)’s proposals. Hill (2017) provides the basic structure of the vocative phrase, and Larson (2014) proposes the internal structure of DP. The combination of these proposals explains the derivation of Arabic vocatives and their Case alternation. This paper argues that indefinite vocatives are assigned accusative Case only if they are merged with an overt D -n, otherwise a nominative Case surfaces on the noun by default. Proper names have the same analysis since the presence of the indefinite article-n is a prerequisite for accusative Case assignment. Concerning vocatives as heads of Construct States, N-to-D movement takes place in order to assign [+def] feature to D and is assigned accusative Case once D raises to the light d. Regarding vocatives in demonstrative phrases, D-to-d movement is blocked because of the intervening constituent Dem, indicating that this operation is subject to the adjacency condition. The same analysis is applicable to definite vocatives occurring with the particle ʡayyuha.


2001 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 113-125
Author(s):  
Youngjun Jang ◽  
Siyoun Kim

This paper compares secondary predication constructions (including small clause complements, resultatives, and/or depictives) in English and Korean and argues that these two typologically different languages employ different modes of satisfying the Case Filter (Chomsky 1981) with regard to the Case of the subjects of secondary predication constructions. More specifically, we argue that the subject of the secondary predicate in English is Accusative Case-marked by the higher governing verb, while that in Korean is Nominative Case-marked by default. Evidence for default Nominative Case will be provided from Korean and other languages.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-379
Author(s):  
Lydia Felice

Abstract This paper examines the state alternation in Kabyle, arguing that state is the morphological realization of Case. The free state is accusative case, and the construct state is nominative case. Taking morphological patterns and syntactic distribution into account, Kabyle is found to be a Type 2 marked nominative language. Both states, or cases, are morphologically marked. The free state is the default case. This analysis accounts for the bulk of the distribution of free state and construct state nouns, and situates Kabyle as belonging to a typologically rare alignment system that is concentrated in Afroasiatic and African languages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-464
Author(s):  
Reyadh Aldokhayel

Abstract This paper considers language evolution from a cognitive-grammar (CG) perspective taking Classical Arabic Case Marking (CACM) as a case in point and a departure point. It is argued that the accusative case is diachronically the baseline case mark, designating the Objective Scene (OS) and demarcating an object of perception in the initial stage of maximal subjectivity in which the ground (G) is totally implicit. Such maximum is then attenuated through a process of objectification such that g entities are gradually put onstage to fulfill the functions of identification and predication. The nominative case, then, figures to mark such emerging entities in their baseline, immediate status. This conception of G with its functions is later extended to mark entities external to G, which gives rise to the full, nominative-marked, baseline existential core (C∃) comprising the existential predicate (P∃) and the existential subject (S∃). The truncation (T) of a verb’s nominative case is argued to fulfill the semantic function of situating a process out of existential reality yielding the existential predicate minus (P-∃), which represents a basic elaboration on baseline C∃. Processes being extensions from perception, the accusative case attenuates to mark entities (D) that demarcate processes, implementing the semantic function of processual modification. Finally, a genitive-marked entity (RP) is proposed to implement the semantic function of referential modification, anchoring and referencing the conceptions of all those facets of reality.


2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1084-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAKAAKI SUZUKI

ABSTRACTObject relative clauses have traditionally been thought to be more difficult than subject relative clauses in child English. However, recent studies as well as Japanese data show contradictory results. This study disclosed preschool children's superior performance on object relative clauses in Japanese; however, this dominance disappeared for the children who could use both the nominative and accusative case markers as cues for the comprehension of single-argument sentences. Assuming a filler–gap dependency for the relative clause formation, we suggest that there is no difference in the difficulty between subject and object relative clauses in the grammar of Japanese-speaking children.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Bok Kim ◽  
Peter Sells

In this paper we present data from Korean in which the core arguments (subject and direct object) of a transitive clause may be suffixed with oblique postpositional markers rather than the usual nominative or accusative case markers. Unlike familiar cases of oblique arguments, such as dative subjects, we argue that the oblique case marking surveyed here does not indicate a particular thematic role, but rather brings out something different: other semantic properties of the argument in one instance, and a special interpretation imparted to the whole clause in the other. We present a description of the data against a background of current theoretical approaches to case marking, and conclude with some consequences for grammatical theory.


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