Abstract

In this paper we will discuss impersonal constructions in terms of Case theory and theta theory. Considering how Case alternation effects on the semantic relation between verbs and their arguments, Fischer and Leek (1987) argue that NP complements in impersonal constructions have non-argument status. These NPs are supposed to have independent θ-roles that are not assigned by the verb.
We will explain what kind of structure the non-argument status of these NPs is attributed to. We suppose that dative NPs and genitive NPs appear in a structure similar to that of PP. It will be argued that lexical Cases, dative and genitive, are a sort of abstract preposition, which is inserted in the deep structure as a head on the basis of semantics and assigns θ-role to its complement NP.