Date Approved

2025

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

English Language and Literature

Committee Member

T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Eric Acton, Ph.D.

Abstract

Case is a well-defined feature of generative syntax. However, the phenomenon of default Case, while widely accepted and discussed, is less defined in its triggers and limitations. The main body of work that seeks to explore default Case is that of Schütze (2001), which presents the main principles of default Case as well as the environments in which it may occur. The purpose of this thesis is to explore default Case at a deeper level, focusing on the interactions of Case, structure, and phi-features to determine how exactly the mechanism works. To achieve this, the data set used consists of English structures which include pronouns that occur with unexpected Case features. Through the course of this analysis, a separate but related phenomenon of category conversion is also explored. Culminating in a preliminary analysis from a cross-linguistic perspective, the study concludes with a more detailed account of how default Case arises.

Download

Included in

Linguistics Commons

Share

COinS