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Verb Phrase In Kurama
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1.6.3 CASE THEORY
Case theory regulates the distribution of phonetically realized NPs by
assigning abstract case to them. It deals with the principle of case
assignment to constituents. Chomsky assumes that all NPs with lexical
contents are assigned (abstract) case is assigned by a set of case
assigners to the governed. Horrrocks (1987:103) says the basic idea is
that case assigned under the government for instance the choice of case
is determined by the governor. In any sentence, that is, lexical head X
may be said to govern its sister, in X-bar and certain lexical heads
also have power to case mark certain of their compliment. Thus, NP
subject is assigned nominative by INFL, (Tense, Agr), Verb assigns
accusative case to object of the verb while preposition assigns case to
its object.
The relationship between the empty position
(trace) and its binder is deemed to be Transformational in the example
below:
Book comes outside everyday on top Francis and John
“A book comes out everyday about Francis and johnâ€.
In this example, a distinct type of A-binding associated with the right
heads movement of the PP modifier of “a book†known informally as
“extra position from NPâ€
The following sentence can be taken as an example.
Sheu inwẹh Audu mandẹ
Sheu kill Audu goat
“Sheu killed the goat for Auduâ€.
IP
Spec 11
NP Tense (Past)VP
N1 V1
N V NP
Sheu N1
Nominative N N
inweh Audu Mande
Kill Goat
ACC
The subject Sheu, being the subject gets Nom (nominative case) from
(INFL+TENSE), verb assigns Accusative case to the object Audu.
1.6.4 THETA THEORY
Theta theory deals with the functional relationship between a predicate
and its arguments. It is concerned with the assignment of what Chomsky
calls “thematic roles†such as agent, patient (or theme), beneficiary
e.t.c. It is assumed that theta roles are assigned to the complements
(direct object) is assigned the role of patient; the PP complement is
assig
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