Linguistic Theory. Gramley, WS Case Grammar

Transcription

1 Linguistic Theory Gramley, WS Case Grammar

2 Universals (1) What are the formal and substantive universals of syntactic structure? (1) Possibly: N, V, S (2) Is there a universal base, and, if so, what are its properties? A common assumption is that the universal base specifies the needed syntactic relations, but the assignment of sequential order to the constituents of base structures is language specific. (ibid.) (3) Are there any universally valid constraints on the ways in which deep structure representations of sentences are given expression in the surface structure? (ibid.) Markedness studies (Greenberg 1966) and implicational universals (Jakobson 1958), e.g. dual > plural.

3 Fillmore pleads for the notion "that the grammatical notion case deserves a place in the base component of the grammar of every language. (2) I shall argue that valid insights on case relationships are missed in all these studies, and that what is needed is a conception of base structure in which case relationships are primitive terms of the theory and in which such concepts as subject and direct object are missing. (2-3) The second assumption I wish to make explicit is the importance of covert categories. (3) Example: patient vs. factative objects

4 Some Preliminary Conclusions 1. No division between subject and predicate (cf. Tesnière), a division which obscures. (17) 2. Subject and object are merely surface structure aspects. 3. Surface structure case systems are non-comparable between languages. (19) Greenberg finds that case uses may be expected to be comparable. He predicts, for instance, that the uses of cases will be substantially similar in frequency but differently combined in different languages (1966, p. 98; see also p. 80). (19)

5 The question should now be asked, of course, whether we are justified in using the term case for the kind of remote syntactic-semantic relations that are at issue. (19) I shall adopt the usage first proposed, as far as I can tell, by Blake (1930), of using the term case to identify the underlying syntactic-semantic relationship, and the term case form to mean the expression of a case relationship in a particular language whether through affixation, suppletion,, use of clitic particles, or constraints on word order. (21)

6 Case Grammar The sentence in its basic structure consists of a verb and one or more noun phrases, each associated with the verb in a particular case relationship. (21) Furthermore, each case relationship occurs only once in a simple sentence (21).

7 The various permitted arrays of distinct cases occurring in simple sentence express a notion of sentence type that may be expected to have universal validity, independently of such superficial differences as subject selection. The arrays of cases defining the sentence types of a language have the effect of imposing a classification of the verbs in the language (according to the sentence type into which they may be inserted), and it is very likely that many aspects of this classification will be universally valid. (21)

8 In the basic structure of sentence, then, we find what might be called the proposition, a tenseless set of relationships involving verbs and nouns (and embedded sentences, if there are nay), separated from what might be called the modality constituent. This latter will include such modalities on the sentence-as-a-whole as negation, tense, mood, and aspect. (23)

9 Sentence Modality + Proposition S N + P The case notions comprise a set of universal, presumably innate, concepts which identify certain types of judgments human beings are capable of making about the events that are going on around them, judgments about such matters as who did it, who it happened to, and what got changed. (24)

10 The Cases Introduced Agentive (A), the case of the typically animate perceived instigator of the action identified with the verb. Instrumental (I), the case of the inanimate force or object causally involved in the action or state identified by the verb. Dative (D), the case of the animate being affected by the state or action identified by the verb. (24) Factitive (F), the case of the object or being resulting from the action or state identified by the verb, or understood as a part of the meaning of the verb.

11 Locative (L), the case which identifies the location or spatial orientation of the state or action identified by the verb. Objective (O), the semantically most neutral case, the case of anything representable by a noun whose role in the action or state identified by the verb is identified by the semantic interpretation f the verb itself; conceivably the concept should be limit5ecd to things which are affected by the action or state identified by the verb. The term is not to be confused with the notion of direct object, nor with the name of the surface case synonymous with accusative. (25) The lack of a distinction between locative and directional may be a surface one (25).

12 Fillmore, Charles J. (1968) The Case for Case In: E. Bach and R.T. Harms (eds) Universals in Linguistic Theory. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp Greenberg, Joseph H. (1966) "Language Universals" In: T.A. Sebeok (ed.) Current Trends in Linguistics. The Hague, pp Jakobson, Roman (1958)"Typological Studies and Their Contribution to Historical Comparative Linguistics" In: Proceedings of the VIIIth International Congress of Linguistics. Oslo, pp