Case Its Principles and its Parameters Cambridge Studies in Linguistics Series

In Case, Mark Baker develops a unified theory of how the morphological case marking of noun phrases is determined by syntactic structure. Designed to work well for languages of all alignment types - accusative, ergative, tripartite, marked nominative, or marked absolutive - this theory has been developed and tested against unrelated languages of each type, and more than twenty non-Indo-European languages are considered in depth. While affirming that case can be assigned to noun phrases by function words under agreement, the theory also develops in detail a second mode of case assignment: so-called dependent case. Suitable for academic researchers and students, the book employs formal-generative concepts yet remains clear and accessible for a general linguistics readership.

1. The issue of structural case; 2. The variable relationship of case and agreement; 3. C-command factors in case assignment; 4. Domains of dependent case assignment; 5. Categories involved in case interactions; 6. On the timing of case assignment; 7. Conclusion: putting together the big picture.

Mark Baker is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Rutgers University.