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Transcript
ei
T
vP
[uT: past] ei
[u-phi:3S] DP
v'
[u-T: NOM]
ei
[i-3S]
v
VP
[u-obj]
ei
[u-phi: 3S]
V
DP
saw
him
[i-past]
[i-3S]
[u-obj: ACC]
In (58), the [u-phi] features in v act as the probe to value these [u-phi]. The latter
agreement is visible in languages with object agreement on the verb. The same valuation
happens with the T where the [u-phi] features act as a probe. The proposal in (58) thus
represents structural case as valued by tense and an object value.
As was mentioned in chapter 1, there are languages without case and (58) would
therefore have to be adapted; there are also languages without overt tense. The
dependence of case on tense could be severed by having [u-phi] first look for valued phifeatures and then have the DP move to look for case. Such “delayed valuation” is
suggested in e.g. Carstens (2012) and would require that we allow DPs to act as probes. I
won’t pursue this possibility further.
There are other problems with the picture in (58), namely, Greenberg’s Universal
in (59) has been known for a long time and it implies that orders where the V is first will
have less agreement than when the nominal is before the V. We have seen some Arabic
sentences in chapter 1 that show this asymmetry between SV and VS.
(59)
Universal 33
When number agreement between the noun and verb is suspended and the rule is
based on order, the case is always one in which the verb precedes and the verb is
in the singular. (Greenberg 1963: 94)
173