Dependent case theory and ergative case assignment in Georgian (unergative verbs)

The presentation aims to investigate how successful the dependent case theory (DCT) is in accounting for Georgian ergative case assignment. According to DCT, ergative is assigned to the higher DP in a clause with transitive verbs, when the lower DP has unvalued case features, which are realized as an unmarked case. Problematic for this view, however, are two types of verbs which either lack second DP argument (unergative verbs) or where the second DP does not carry unmarked case (predicates with ergative-dative pairings). The presentation is focused on unergative verbs and I argue that these cases involve a covert object in the nominative/absolutive. The arguments (old and new) provided in the presentation concern the transitive structure, agreement morphology for the implicit argument, the need for a second DP in the case-assignment domain (obligatory with ergative subjects), use of a D head as a residual of a DP with null objects, and the possibility to employ various valency increasing strategies to add theme argument, including use of cognate objects.

Earlier versions or parts of this presentation have been/will be presented at:

Oberseminar English Linguistics (Göttingen, 18.05.2021) https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/643552.html

SLE (Athens, 29.08.2023) https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2023/programme/

SCCC-3 (Tbilisi, 04.10.2023) https://linguistics.iliauni.edu.ge/  

NOCroDep (Frankfurt, 08.12.2023) https://sites.google.com/ucm.es/nocrodep-2023-frankfurt-editio/schedule-abstracts