Case, referentiality and phrase structure

This dissertation investigates the interaction between case and referentiality in syntax and the role of such an interaction on phrase structure. It proposes that the two conditions introduced independently in the literature for argumenthood, i.e., case-assignment for visibility and referentiality assignment for type-shifting, are correlated and need to be associated with each other in syntax. It further argues that languages, however, vary parametrically in the ways that they establish this association, and differences observed in their phrase-structures follow from this variation.; Turkish differs from English in terms of the functional categories it has associated with case and referentiality. In English, determiners assign referentiality in the theta domain, whereas the functional categories TP and vP above the theta domain mediate case assignment. This requires a case-driven Agree between the theta domain and TP/vP. In Turkish, on the other hand, there are no determiners, but case assignment encodes referentiality assignment. It is sufficient that an NP be case-assigned to become an argument, as this will also ensure referentiality assignment. The main implication of referentiality assignment via case assignment in Turkish is that in addition to referentiality, case is also introduced within the theta domain unlike English. This further implies that there is no case-driven Agree with TP and vP in Turkish.; Based on the presence or absence of case-driven Agree, this study introduces a cross-linguistic typology. Languages like Japanese and Hungarian also pattern with Turkish, that is, they lack case-driven Agree. This creates a non-configurational phrase structure for Turkish, Hungarian and Japanese, since all arguments remain in theta positions, which are hierarchically equal in terms of the event structure under the Neo-Davidsonian model. This accounts for the common patterns observed in the phrase structures of Turkish, Hungarian and Japanese, such as the availability of scrambling, pseudo-incorporation, argument drop and the absence of superiority effects. These patterns do not occur in English. Languages like Chinese, on the other hand, exhibit a third category, that is, they lack referentiality and case as syntactic features, and the mixed properties they exhibit in terms of (non-)configurationality are a result of this.