A unified theory of Case form and Case meaning

Abstract

Abstract The syntax of Genitive is shown to be the key to eliminate all proposed partitions of Case into grammatically relevant subclasses, in favour of only one distinction: that between interpretable and uninterpretable Case features. This reduction of Case types to [±interpretable], once combined with other minimalist assumptions and some Case-checking hypotheses, nearly exhausts the core grammar of Genitive in various languages. The mapping of Genitive syntax to the Conceptual-Intentional system in terms of just [±interpretable] is shown to be always straightforward, even if the interpretable and uninterpretable instantiations are distinguishable in certain languages and systematically ambiguous in others. The mapping to the Sensory-Motor system is more articulate and partly idiosyncratic: still, it is translated into a principled and deductive parametric structure, that is set from positive evidence and guided by a number of plausible, independently proposed Third Factor conditions.