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The current study investigates case morphology development in a bilingual context. It is aimed at investigating potential mechanisms driving divergences in heritage language grammars as compared to the baseline monolingual standards. For the purposes of the study, 95 bilingual and monolingual children and adults were compared. Bilinguals residing in Israel acquired Russian from birth, while the age of onset of Hebrew varied. The participants completed a production task eliciting accusative case inflections. Both child and adult heritage speakers of Russian with early age of onset of Hebrew (before the age of 5) showed divergences in the production of the accusative case inflections as compared to monolingual Russian-speaking controls (adult and child), whereas grammars of Israeli heritage Russian speakers with later ages of onset of Hebrew, after the age of 5, were found to be intact. On the basis of Russian in contact with Hebrew, the study discusses how heritage language grammars differ from the baseline grammars of monolingual speakers and which mechanisms are associated with heritage language ultimate attainment. The effects of the age of onset and cross-linguistic influence from the dominant societal language are discussed as potential factors affecting the acquisition / maintenance of linguistic phenomena in heritage language grammars.

The following paper aims at shedding some light on the Albanian language case system with a special focus on the assignment of the accusative case. As a member of the vast Indo-European family Albanian language is characterized by an inflected case system and as so a free word order. Traditionally, we are taught and we still teach to the coming generations that accusative case is assigned mostly by the verb to that sentence noun phrase syntactically representing the direct object and semantically introducing the Theme or the Patient. Moreover in Albanian accusative is also assigned by another morphological category bearing the distinctive features [+noun;+verb], namely the proposition. Furthermore, as a researcher in the field of generative syntax, I have a stake in analyzing certain exceptional cases of accusative case assignment to the subject NP of the Albanian subjunctive clause. In conclusion, I was tempted to adopt Chomsky’s reconciling proposal in accusative case assignment under the specifier-head structural and schematic relation.

ظاهرة نصب الجزأين مع (إن وأخواتها) في ضوء الاستعمال اللهجي إبراهيم سند إبراهيم أحمد قسم النحو والصرف والعروض، کلية دار العلوم، جامعة المنيا، مصر. البريد الإلکتروني: Ibrahim.ahmed1@mu.edu.eg الملخص: نصب الجزأين في الجملة الاسمية المنسوخة بـ (إن وأخواتها) ظاهرة نحوية، عرفت في استعمالات العربية الفصحى، وتعددت شواهدها في أقوال فصحاء العربية، فهي عادة کلامية لبعض القبائل، مثل: [تميم، وعکل، وهذيل،... وغيرها]، وعلى الرغم من مخالفة هذا الاستعمال للقاعدة النحوية الأشهر تداولا [بنصب اسم إن وأخواتها ورفع خبرها]، إلا أنه استعمال فصيح، تداولته مستويات العربية المختلفة. وقد استشهد نحاة الکوفة بعدد من الشواهد [الشعرية والنثرية]؛ لتأکيد استعمال هذه الظاهرة، أما البصريون فلم يجيزوا نصب الجزأين مع (إن وأخواتها)، وأولوا شواهدها إما بالنصب على الحال، أو على أنه خبر (کان) المحذوفة، وإن رأي الکوفيين هو الأقرب إلى الواقع اللغوي؛ لتداول الظاهرة بين أبناء العربية. وتهدف الدراسة إلى بيان المقصود بنصب الجزأين في الجملة الاسمية المنسوخة بـ (إن وأخواتها)، وعرض شواهدها، والتأکيد على فصاحتها، ومدى ارتباطها باللهجات العربية، وبيان موقف النحاة [البصريين والکوفيين] منها. وتعتمد الدراسة على المنهج الوصفي الذي يعنى بدراسة الظاهرة وتحليلها؛ وذلک من خلال رصد جهود النحاة في تناول ظاهرة (نصب الجزأين) مع الجملة الاسمية المنسوخة بـ (إن وأخواتها)، وموقف اللغويين المحدثين منها. وقد توصلت الدراسة إلى عدد من النتائج، منها: التأکيد على تداول نصب الجزأين مع (إن وأخواتها) في الاستعمال العربي؛ وذلک على خلاف بين نحاة العربية [تأييدا واعتراضا]، والتزام محققي الدواوين الشعرية في تخريج شواهد نصب الجزأين وفق اللغة الأشهر في الاستعمال، أما النحاة فقد أشاروا إلى جواز استعمال اللغتين معا، وهذا يدل على دقة النحويين في رواية أشعار العرب، إضافة إلى کثرة استعمال نصب الجزأين مع (إن وأخواتها) في الشواهد النثرية عن الشواهد الشعرية. الکلمات المفتاحية: التوجيه النحوي، نصب الجزأين، إن وأخواتها، الاستعمال اللهجي. The Accusative of the Two Parts[1] with (Inna and its Sisters) in light of the Dialectical Usage Ibrahim Sanad Ibrahim Ahmed Department of Grammar, Morphology and Prosody, Faculty of Dar Al-Uloom, Minia University, Egypt Email: Ibrahim.ahmed1@mu.edu.eg Abstract: The accusative of the two parts of the nominative sentence beginning with Inna and its sisters is a grammatical phenomenon known in the uses of classical Arabic. It has several instances in the speech of eloquent speakers of Arabic. It is a verbal habit of some tribes, such as Tamim, Akel, and Hudhail. Although this use contravenes the most widely used grammatical rule [putting in the accusative case the subject of (Inna and its sisters) and putting its predicate in the nominative case], it is an eloquent use shared by different levels of Arabic. A number of [poetic and prose] instances were cited by the grammarians of Kufa to confirm its use. The grammarians of Basra did not allow the accusative of the two parts with (Inna and its Sisters). They interpreted the instances either as the accusative of Haal (circumstantial adverb) or as the predicate of the omitted (Kana). But the opinion of the grammarians of Kufa is closest to the linguistic reality because the usage confirms the existence of this phenomenon. The study aims to clarify what is meant by putting in the accusative the two parts of the nominative sentence beginning with (Inna and its sisters), presenting its instances, emphasizing its eloquence, its connection with Arabic dialects, and stating the position of grammarians regarding it. The study adopts a descriptive approach that deals with studying and analyzing this phenomenon. This is done by observing the efforts of grammarians in dealing with the accusative of the two parts of the nominative sentence beginning with (Inna and its sisters), and the position of modern linguists regarding that. The study reaches a number of conclusions, including: emphasizing the use of the accusative of the two parts with (Inna and its sisters) in Arabic. This point is debatable among Arabic grammarians (some grammarians approve, others disapprove). The commitment of the auditors of the poetic collections to produce the instances of the accusative of the two parts according to the most widely used language rule, while the grammarians have indicated the permissibility of the two uses ​​together. This is indicative of the accuracy of grammarians in narrating Arabic poetry. Instances of the use of the accusative of the two parts with (Inna and its sisters) in prose are greater than those in poetry. Keywords: Grammatical orientation, The accusative of the two parts, Inna and its sisters, Dialectical Usage.

This paper considers language evolution from a cognitive-grammar (CG) perspective taking Classical Arabic Case Marking (CACM) as a case in point and a departure point. It is argued that the accusative case is diachronically the baseline case mark, designating the Objective Scene (OS) and demarcating an object of perception in the initial stage of maximal subjectivity in which the ground (G) is totally implicit. Such maximum is then attenuated through a process of objectification such that g entities are gradually put onstage to fulfill the functions of identification and predication. The nominative case, then, figures to mark such emerging entities in their baseline, immediate status. This conception of G with its functions is later extended to mark entities external to G, which gives rise to the full, nominative-marked, baseline existential core (C∃) comprising the existential predicate (P∃) and the existential subject (S∃). The truncation (T) of a verb’s nominative case is argued to fulfill the semantic function of situating a process out of existential reality yielding the existential predicate minus (P-∃), which represents a basic elaboration on baseline C∃. Processes being extensions from perception, the accusative case attenuates to mark entities (D) that demarcate processes, implementing the semantic function of processual modification. Finally, a genitive-marked entity (RP) is proposed to implement the semantic function of referential modification, anchoring and referencing the conceptions of all those facets of reality.

This paper examines the tone in Harar Oromo, a language widely spoken in Ethiopia. The focus is on tone in nouns. The examination implements acoustic analysis of tone using pitch contours, which helps in determining the type and position of tone in roots and in nominative and accusative case. The results show that roots can have either L or H tone, while case suffixes always have H tone. This suggests that tone is predictable in suffixes, but not in roots. The analysis suggests that Harar Oromo has a restricted tone system that is similar to stress-like languages.

This paper develops the proposal put forth by Aldridge (2015, 2016) for the emergence of ergative alignment in a first-order subgroup of the Austronesian family. I first provide new evidence for reconstructing Proto-Austronesian (PAn) as accusative rather than ergative. I then propose a significantly revised approach to Aldridge’s proposed reanalysis. On the basis of evidence from Tsou, I propose that the reanalysis took place in biclausal constructions embedded under motion or locative verbs. Since such biclausal constructions are contexts for restructuring, no accusative case is available for an object. This forced objects which needed structural licensing to value nominative case with T. I additionally show that subjects were assigned inherent non-nominative case in PAn when objects needed to enter into Agree with T, as when valuing nominative case. These conditions yielded a new ergative clause type in a daughter of PAn, which Aldridge (2015, 2016) calls “Proto-Ergative Austronesian”. No change took place in clauses lacking an object needing structural licensing. Consequently, subjects in intransitive clauses and transitive clauses with indefinite objects continued to surface with nominative case, yielding the type of ergative alignment prevalent in Formosan and Philippine languages today.

The Mandarin bǎ-construction has been one of the most well studied subjects in Chinese grammar. Although the previous studies have achieved some exciting results, the exact nature of bǎ and the syntactic derivation of the bǎ-construction remain largely controversial. The current paper constitutes an attempt to clarify the two issues under the minimalist framework. In particular, while keeping in line with the little v analysis of bǎ proposed by Sybesma 1999; Lin 2001 among others, I argue that there is a Middle applicative projection (an affected applicative) between V and v; the bǎ-NP is formed by a movement of VP-internal arguments to Spec.ApplPmid, which can optionally be occupied by gěi, and it gets an accusative Case from bǎ in v. With this analysis, we can better account for the core syntactic and semantic properties of bǎ-constructions. Furthermore, I will show that the proposed applicative approach has some interesting consequences for Taiwanese ka-constructions, a near counterpart of Mandarin bǎ-constructions. Finally, I will compare bǎ-constructions to languages with differential object marking in arguing that Mandarin uses a special strategy – light verb marking to mark the specific/affected objects.

A widely accepted assumption in both the syntactic and semantic literature is that copulas lack semantic content. A consequent question is how to explain the existence in certain languages of two copular verbs that give rise to different interpretations. Such is the case in numerous languages of the Dene family (formerly known as Athapaskan). We explain this situation with the hypothesis that the copulas realize an underlying three-copula system differing in argument structure. Differences between the interpretations of copular clauses in these languages originate in the compositional semantics of these structures, not in any lexical semantic differences.This hypothesis successfully predicts the distributional differences between the surface forms of the Dene copulas, such as their compatibility with adjuncts of time and intentionality, interactions with accusative case, and semanticlifetime effects.

Among the new coin legends that have appeared on Julia Domna’s bronze and (very rare) silver coins throughout the reign of her son Caracalla (211–217) the most interesting seem to be two rare accusatives: CEREREM (dupondius and As RIC IV Caracalla 596) and IVNONEM (quinarius RIC IV Caracalla 378; sestertius RIC IV Caracalla 585; dupondius and As RIC IV Caracalla 599). This paper aims to place such accusatives in a literary and epigraphical context and argues that the accusatives on the reverses of Julia Domna’s coins should depend on the verb form consecravit or dedicavit being understood, and the legends of the entire coins are to be read as IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG(usta) / CEREREM (or IVNONEM) [consecravit/dedicavit]. In the second part of the article, I discuss iconographic variants of types RIC IV Caracalla 596; BMCRE V Caracalla 220–222 and RIC IV Caracalla 585 and 599; BMCRE V Caracalla 208 and 224.

This paper presents a novel, Dynamic Syntax-based approach to the phenomenon of differential object marking in Kazakh, which can be extended at least to other Turkic languages displaying this phenomenon. It is demonstrated that the difference in the pragmatics associated with marked and unmarked direct objects, as well as the syntactic restrictions on the positioning of unmarked direct objects, can be elegantly and succinctly explicated through the application of the notions of fixed and unfixed nodes, without the need for proposing special syntactic positions or additional pragmatics for the accusative case.

This study seeks to identify the syntactic motivation and problems of the associations of the complementizers ?anna and ?an with word order and case marking in Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth MSA) with reference to the Minimalist Program (MP), the updated version of MP Phase Theory, and the split CP hypothesis of Rizzi (1997, 2001). The clause following ?anna must take SVO word order, while ?an requires VSO word order. This study analyzes not only the syntactic motivation for the word order governed by ?anna and ?an but also related syntactic [issues and reasons for ?anna and ?an complementizers in both SVO and VSO word order] based on a minimalist approach and Rizzi’s approach, especially for the problem of double case marking; a generative approach is needed to solve certain syntactic problems (e.g., assigning accusative case and subjunctive mood). Finally, this study argues that in MSA, ?an sits in a non-phasal phrase, whereas ?anna occurs in ?anna P and FinitenessP (FinP). Furthermore, case marking assignment is based on ECM for ?anna and on locality for ?an .

Case is a morphological realization on a noun phrase (NP) to represent the NP's grammatical relationship with the main verb of the clause. With respect to case, languages, in many cases, can be broadly divided into two alignment systems, i.e., ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative. In the former type of languages, e.g., Punjabi, the subjects usually receive an ergative post position in transitive clauses (with perfective aspect) while in the latter type of languages, e.g., English, the subject, i.e., in nominative case receives, no post position. There has been a widespread controversy on whether ergative is a structural case or a lexical/inherent case and how the arguments are, i.e., subject and objects valued case in case of ergative clauses. With this ongoing debate in the background, this study aims to compare the marking of case on the arguments, i.e., subjects and objects in the transitive clauses of English and Punjabi. The study is conducted under the minimalist framework of Chomsky (2008), who emphasized on Strong Minimalist Thesis (SMT): language provides the best possible solution to the interface conditions imposed by other systems of the human mind, i.e., related to meaning and sound, which interact with language through their interfaces Conceptual Intentional (C-I) and Sensori-Motor (SM) respectively. In this framework, a feature valuation mechanism is induced by the probes, i.e., C and v*. The study finds that in split ergative languages (the languages which take both case patterns, i.e., nominative and ergative) like Punjabi, the EA, i.e., subjects of perfective transitive clauses are assigned the ergative case by the functional heads v* at [Spec-v*] while the IA, i.e., objects are valued accusative case by the same functional head v* under Agree operation. A consequence of this finding concludes that T has default agreement in such languages, which is possible because Punjabi (like its other South Asian counterparts, e.g., Urdu-Hindi, Bengali, and Kashmiri) is a pro-drop language. So, it is easy to assume that EPP and Agree features of T are an option. Keywords: Case valuation, Strong Minimalist Thesis (SMT), Punjabi, English, ergative, nominative