Case Distribution and Nominalization: Evidence from Finnish

Abstract

Abstract. In many languages, case is distributed among many grammatical elements inside of argument DPs. This article shows that case distribution in Finnish is sensitive to certain nontrivial structural properties of those DPs. This makes it possible to use case distribution as a tool to investigate the internal structure of a variety of DPs, including nominalized clauses. It is argued, based on such new evidence, that (i) there exists a syntactic nominalizer head n within various kinds of nominal phrases, and that (ii) genitive argument DPs of nominalized clauses undergo raising analogous to the EPP‐triggered DP raising in finite clauses. Furthermore, these genitive arguments are base‐generated below the nominalizer head n. Implications involving recent theories of Agree, valuation, and phrasal movement are discussed.