An optimality-theoretic account of the Japanese case system

This paper provides an Optimality-Theoretic account of the Japanese case sy stem within the framework of 'Role and Reference Grammar' (RRG) (Van Valin 1993; Van Valin and LaPolla 1997). It is shown that a particular ranking of universal constraints may accommodate not only the regular case marking pa tterns of Japanese, but the irregular ones displayed by inversion, causativ e, and a variety of double-nominative constructions. Finally, it is suggest ed that characterizing case systems in terms of the way universal constrain ts are ranked opens up a way to a principled typology of case systems.