Deceptive datives: Prepositional case in Latvian

Abstract

In this paper, I look at the distribution of case forms in Latvian prepositional constructions. Latvian prepositions assign either the genitive or the accusative case to their complements, primarily in an idiosyncratic manner. This pattern is disrupted in the plural, where all complements of prepositions show up invariably in the dative case. I investigate the nature of this unusual pattern and provide a post-syntactic account of the data, in which I claim that the observed asymmetry is the result of a cumulative effect in Latvian grammar: case may surface unfaithfully in configurations where marked combinations of case and number features occur in positions where certain case feature values are dispreferred to begin with. This effect arose diachronically as a repair mechanism after the language had lost one of its grammatical cases, the instrumental. This cumulative effect is captured using the framework of Harmonic Grammar. I also argue extensively against a purely syntactic account of the data.