The Notion ‘Case’ from Traditional Grammar to Modern Grammatical Theories

A Critical Historical Review

Abstract

Case is an old concept in grammar, which has survived right from traditional grammar to the current grammatical theories. This paper critically examines the notion of case within different grammatical frameworks. Our interest is mainly in the role of syntax and semantics in case determination and the level of grammatical analysis (deep or surface) at which case is assigned. While traditional grammar used case as a morphological cum syntactic category, generative grammar takes case to be a purely syntactic affair. Case grammar assumes case to be a semantic notion that has syntactic relevance. In the principles and parameters approach, case is seen as an abstract which every overt NP must possess. The strengths and weaknesses of each conception of case are highlighted.