CASE GRAMMAR: A MERGER OF SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS

Charles Fillmore’s Deep Cases are determined not by syntax, but rather by semantics. Rather than having Subject, Indirect Object and Direct Object, Fillmore uses such terms as Agent, Experiencer, Instrument, and Patient.

The semantic features often occur in contrasting pairs, like Animate vs. Inanimate, and Cause vs. Effect. Thus:

Agent: Animate Cause

Experiencer: Animate Effect

Instrument: Inanimate Cause

Patient: Inanimate Effect

In an Active Sentence the most active Deep Case is eligible to become the Subject and the least active is eligible to become the Direct Object.

In a Passive Sentence the least active Deep Case is eligible to become the Subject and the most active case becomes an Object of the Preposition “by.”

Normally, the most active deep case is selected as the subject of the sentence:

The Actor if there is one

If not, the Instrument if there is one

If there is no Actor or Instrument, the Object becomes eligible. Therefore we have the following:

The boy opened the door with the key.

The key opened the door.

The door opened.

Is Case Grammar an effective method for showing the interrelationships between syntax and semantics?