Tagalog and Deep Case Grammar

Abstract

This paper discusses some notions in deep case grammar, viewed in terms of some syntactic properties of Tagalog. Section 1 discusses the notion of focus in Tagalog grammar, and its relation to the concept of deep case. Subjectivalization and passivization are dealt with in Section 2, and transformational grammar and deep case grammar are compared in the way these theories derive the passive sentence. In Section 3 are presented some counterexamples to Fillmore’s rules on conjunction (and non-conjunction) of case-marked NPs; solutions are offered. Section 4 presents verbless sentences in Tagalog and speculates on how these sentences may be incorporated in a case grammar of Tagalog. In Section 5, K is suggested to be a feature of a verb, and the discussion of the syntax of the verb bukas ‘open’ in Section 6 leads to a consideration of the feature approach to case grammar.