Person splits in the case systems of Geg Albanian (Shkodër) and Arbëresh (Greci)

The central aim of this article is an in-depth rethinking of the notion of case, assuming with Chomsky (1995) that features of lexical items must be bona fide properties, not concealed devices reconstructing relational primitives. We base our discussion on Albanian varieties which exhibit a rich case system; we attack the problem at the PF interface, with a study of morphological case in Geg Albanian and Arbëresh (Greci). We argue that the traditional label of case is associated with morphological entries which in reality correspond to denotational primitives as different as nominal class (gender), definiteness, quantification, predication. If we assume that the case consists entirely of more primitive properties, including those just mentioned, it is these properties that enter into the projection of the syntactic tree. The traditional (relational) notion of case can be reconstructed by reference to the fact that different sets of these primitive properties satisfy different syntactic environments, defined by agreement, theta-assignment and in general by the primitive relations of minimalist theory. Case is just the name traditionally given to satisfaction of the latter by the former.