Constructive Case: Evidence From Australian Languages

Australian Aboriginal languages have many interesting grammatical characteristics that challenge some of the central assumptions of current linguistic theory. These languages exhibit many unusual morphosyntactic characteristics that have not yet been adequately incorporated into current linguistic theory. This volume focuses on the complex properties of case morphology in these nonconfigurational languages, including extensive case stacking and the use of case to mark tense/aspect/mood. While problematic for many syntactic approaches, these case properties are given a natural and unified account in the lexicalist model of constructive case developed in this book, which allows case morphology to construct the larger syntactic context independently of phrase structure.

Rachel Nordlinger was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, at the time of this publication.

Preface
Abbreviations

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview
1.2 Data and Sources
1.3 The Formal Framework
1.4 Organization

2 Nonconfigurationality in Australian Languages

2.1 Defining Nonconfigurationality
2.2 A Mni-Typology of (Non)Configurationality

3 Modelling Nonconfigurationality

3.1 Nonconfigurational Phrase Structure
3.2 Head-Marking Nonconfigurationality
3.3 Dependent-Marking Nonconfigurationality

3.3.1 Introducing Constructive Case
3.3.2 Integrating Constructive Case into the Clause
3.3.3 Arguments for Retaining Case Features
3.3.4 Grammatical Case Assignment
3.3.5 Semantic Case
3.3.6 Conclusion

3.4 Summary

4 Constructive Case I: Case Concord, Case and Tense/Aspect/Mood

4.1 NP Structure
4.2 Adjunct Agreement

4.2.1 Case Agreement
4.2.2 Gender and number agreement

4.3 Sentenial Adjuncts in Warlpiri
4.4 Case and Tense/Aspect/Mood Marking
4.5 Summary

5 Constructive Case II: Case Stacking

5.1 Simple Case Stacking
5.2 The Interaction of Case and Number
5.3 Associating and Modal Case in Kayardild
5.4 Summary

6 Conclusion

6.1 Summaryand Concluding Remarks
6.2 Further Issues

6.2.1 Complementizing Case
6.2.2 Constraints

A Restating the Principle of Morphological Composition

Bibliography

Index

3/1/98

ISBN (Paperback): 1575861348 (9781575861340)
ISBN (Cloth): 1575861356 (9781575861357)

Constructive Case

Contents