Case in tiers
Encyclopedia
Case in tiers is a model for assigning surface case
to noun phrase
s (NPs) in a sentence. Introduced in Yip, Maling, and Jackendoff
1987, it has received at least 88 scholarly citations according to Google Scholar. The model takes its inspiration from the seminal and at that time already successful model of prosodic morphology (McCarthy 1981), which posits that the structure of a phonological word is a stack of types of elements (e.g., vowels, consonants, syllabic pitches), with each element type being provided with its own tier of the stack. Yip et al. decompose the structure of an individual sentence into a tier of structural cases, a tier of lexical cases, and a skeletal tier of the NPs in the sentence. The structural case tier is homologous to the consonant matrix lexical root of a Semitic verb, while the lexical case tier is homologous to the set of vowels in a Semitic verb word form. The lexical cases are assigned to specific NPs in the skeletal tier. The structural cases are assigned sequentially, with the direction of assignment depending on which case alignment is the characteristic one for the language in question. For nominative–accusative alignment, the structural cases are assigned from left to right, with nominative
case preceding accusative
. For ergative–absolutive alignment, the direction of assignment is right to left, with absolutive
preceding ergative
. For instance:
In debuting the model, the authors claimed for it the following achievements: unification of ergative and nominative case alignments under a single framework; accounting for the movement of lexical case with an NP in passivization; and accounting for the appearance of post-verbal nominative case in Icelandic. However, the model seemed to fail when assigning case in languages with OSV word order or free word order. It also did not correctly handle some grammatical voices, e.g., the antipassive voice
.
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
to noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
s (NPs) in a sentence. Introduced in Yip, Maling, and Jackendoff
Ray Jackendoff
Ray Jackendoff is an American linguist. He is professor of philosophy, Seth Merrin Chair in the Humanities and, with Daniel Dennett, Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University...
1987, it has received at least 88 scholarly citations according to Google Scholar. The model takes its inspiration from the seminal and at that time already successful model of prosodic morphology (McCarthy 1981), which posits that the structure of a phonological word is a stack of types of elements (e.g., vowels, consonants, syllabic pitches), with each element type being provided with its own tier of the stack. Yip et al. decompose the structure of an individual sentence into a tier of structural cases, a tier of lexical cases, and a skeletal tier of the NPs in the sentence. The structural case tier is homologous to the consonant matrix lexical root of a Semitic verb, while the lexical case tier is homologous to the set of vowels in a Semitic verb word form. The lexical cases are assigned to specific NPs in the skeletal tier. The structural cases are assigned sequentially, with the direction of assignment depending on which case alignment is the characteristic one for the language in question. For nominative–accusative alignment, the structural cases are assigned from left to right, with nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
case preceding accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
. For ergative–absolutive alignment, the direction of assignment is right to left, with absolutive
Absolutive case
The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
preceding ergative
Ergative case
The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
. For instance:
- Nominative alignment (English):
- intransitive verbIntransitive verbIn grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
: He [NOM] ran. - transitive verbTransitive verbIn syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
: He [NOM] sees me [ACC].
- intransitive verb
- Ergative alignment (West Greenlandic) (Yip et al. 1987: 220):
- intransitive verb: Kaali [ABS] pisuppoq. = 'Karl is walking.'
- transitive verb: Kaalip [ERG] Hansi [ABS] takuaa. = 'Karl sees Hans.' (Sadock ex. 12a)
In debuting the model, the authors claimed for it the following achievements: unification of ergative and nominative case alignments under a single framework; accounting for the movement of lexical case with an NP in passivization; and accounting for the appearance of post-verbal nominative case in Icelandic. However, the model seemed to fail when assigning case in languages with OSV word order or free word order. It also did not correctly handle some grammatical voices, e.g., the antipassive voice
Antipassive voice
The antipassive voice is a verb voice that works on transitive verbs by deleting the object. This construction is similar to the passive voice, in that it decreases the verb's valency by one - the passive by deleting the subject , the antipassive by deleting the object The antipassive voice...
.