Case and Locality in L-Syntax: Evidence from Georgian

Recent work on the morphology/syntax interface has argued that there is no separate component for lexical operations (Halle & Marantz 1993, Miyagawa 1994, Marantz 1997). Hale & Keyser (1993) argue that the operations giving rise to verb alternations are syntactic, with each argument’s thematic role determined by the position in which it is merged. Harley (1995) further proposes that Hale & Keyser’s lexical syntax (l-syntax) is not a separate component, but rather is just the domain of the clause below functional categories such as Tense and Comp. In this paper, I consider the l-syntax of certain unaccusative verbs in Georgian. My starting place is the assumption that l-syntax consists of the combination of heads and arguments, with each argument merged with a separate head. I argue that the different options for movement spring from the distinction between quirky and non-quirky inherent case, which has consequences for locality. Differences in the interpretation, case properties and binding possibilities of the merged arguments have their basis in θ-role assignment. Following Marantz (1984), I assume that in some cases an argument receives a θ-role from the head it merges with, while for others the θ-role is assigned by the verb phrase that is the complement to that head. I also propose a third kind of θ-role, which is determined not by a verb or a verb phrase, but by the configuration in which the argument occurs. Differences in θ-role assignment are also connected with the choice of verb stem.