case (n.)

A GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY used in the analysis of WORD-classes (or their associated PHRASES) to identify the SYNTACTIC relationship between words in a SENTENCE, through such contrasts as NOMINATIVE, ACCUSATIVE, etc. The traditional CLASSIFICATION, such as is found in Latin GRAMMAR, is based on variations in the MORPHOLOGICAL forms of the word (a set of such forms constituting a PARADIGM, as in Latin puella, puellam, puellae, puella, the singular case forms of ‘girl’ – respectively nominative/VOCATIVE, accusative, genitive/ DATIVE and ABLATIVE). Each form is analyzed in terms of a specific range of meaning; e.g. nominative is primarily the case of the grammatical SUBJECT of the sentence, genitive refers to such notions as possession, origin, and so on.

In languages which lack morphological variations of this kind, the term ‘case’, as traditionally used, does not apply. In English, for example, the only case form which is so marked is the genitive (as in boy’s or boys’); all other forms have no ending, the remaining case ‘meanings’ being expressed using PREPOSITIONS (as in with a boy, to the boy) or word-order (as in the cat chases mouse/mouse chases cat contrast). A great deal of space in introductions to LINGUISTICS has been devoted to this point, in particular to criticism of TRADITIONAL grammars of English which insisted nonetheless on analyzing the English noun in terms of cases. In some languages, highly complex morphological SYSTEMS are encountered – according to some, Finnish can be analyzed as having sixteen cases, for example – along with a correspondingly complex descriptive terminology (using such terms as INESSIVE (‘in’ a place), ELATIVE (‘from inside’ a place) and ILLATIVE (‘into’ a place)).

When written with a capital C (Case), the term refers to an abstract notion which is distinct from the MORPHOLOGICALLY marked case described under above. Abstract Case (or deep Case) is present even in languages (such as Chinese) which lack morphological case on NOUN PHRASES; it is usually assumed to be CONGRUENT with morphological case when such features are present. Case theory is one of the (sub-)theories of GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY: it deals with the assignment of abstract Case and its morphological realizations, restricting the distribution of LEXICAL NPs at S-STRUCTURE. Structural Case is assigned to NPs at S-structure; inherent Case is assigned to NPs in D-STRUCTURE. Case-marking rules assign structural Case to certain NP positions (e.g. OBJECTIVE, where the NP is GOVERNED by a TRANSITIVE VERB or PREPOSITION), and the Case filter restricts the range of SENTENCES which can be generated in this way, making MOVEMENT of the object-NP to the subject position obligatory in PASSIVES, and preventing the appearance of an ADVERBIAL between a verb and its object. Case theory in this sense must be clearly distinguished from that outlined in CASE GRAMMAR. In the MINIMALIST PROGRAMME, Case-marking is expressed as Case-CHECKING.