Nominative and default case checking in minimalist syntax

This dissertation investigates case checking phenomena of a DP in (Spec, TP) in the most recent version of the minimalist framework outlined in Chomsky (1995b). It aims (i) to uniformly account for nominative case checking in both Portuguese-type and English-type languages and (ii) to give a principled and unified account to case checking of an overt DP subject in English untensed clauses and present subjunctives.; As for (i), the dissertation argues that the exclusively (+Tense) -oriented minimalist theory of nominative case checking is too strong to hold universally to the extent that the occurrence of nominative case exclusively hinges on the presence of {dollar}phi{dollar}-features in Portuguese-type languages (Brazilian and European Portuguese, Turkish, Berber, and Korean) and the (+Tense) feature in English-type languages (English, Modern Greek, and West-Flemish). It then parameterizes nominative case checking in such a way that the {dollar}phi{dollar}-features of T check nominative case in the former type of language, while the (+Tense) feature of T assumes such a case checking role in the latter type of language.; As for (ii), this study claims that such English constructions as ACC-INGs, imperatives, so-called Mad Magazine sentences, and small clauses are untensed but agreeing clauses with T with (-Tense) and {dollar}phi{dollar}-features. On the claim that an overt DP subject in these constructions bears default accusative case and this unmarked case is structural, it proposes a minimalist theory of default case checking in English such that default case is checked by T with the (-Tense) feature in (Spec, TP) in the same manner in which nominative case is checked by T with the (+Tense) feature. To account for nominative case checking of the subjunctive subject, this inquiry defends the finiteness or tensedness of the present subjunctive in English on formal syntactic grounds and proposes, concurring with Roberts (1985 and 1993), that there exists a phonologically null modal in the subjunctive that carries tense and agreement inflections. It is shown that some mysterious syntactic properties of the subjunctive receive a natural account under the proposal, as does case checking of the nominative subjunctive subject.