Agr - Based Case Theory and I T S Interaction W I T H the a - B a R System

This thesis proposes a modification of the Agr-based Case theory of Chomsky (1992) to deal with the phenomena of Case absorption. The proposed hypothesis claims that Agr must undergo further feature checking with an appropriate functional head after Case checking takes place in AgrP. For this reason, CP is needed immediately above Agr-sP for Nominative and Null Case checking; Accusative Case checking needs TP in simplex clauses and what will be called HP in participle constructions. When these projections are missing, Case checking becomes impossible, resulting in Case absorption. This explains the distribution of PRO and ECMhaising with respect to the Case checking process in Agr-sP, Accusative Case absorption in the participial passive and what will be called the reduced causative also fall under our account. This system is extended to the Case of pre/postpositions. Given the pivotal role of Tns in the proposed system, a dependency is expected between the feature checking in Agr-sP and the feature checking in Agr-oP. Some such cases from Irish, Japanese, and Icelandic are discussed. The proposed modification requires the V+Infl complex to be raised to Cu, creating a configuration where the A-system including Case and inflection interacts with the A-bar movement which makes use of Spec of CP. Whagreement and the comp-trace phenomena are given a uniform treatment from this perspective. At the same time, the modified Case theory questions the blocking effect of negation for head movement. Instead, the influence of negation on the inflectional system is captured in terms of modality. Thesis Supervisor: Kenneth L. Hale Title: Ferrari P. Ward Professor