Vergnaud letter on Case theory
E681831
The "Vergnaud letter on Case theory" is a seminal 1977 letter by linguist Jean-Roger Vergnaud that laid the foundations for modern Case theory in generative grammar and profoundly influenced subsequent syntactic research.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Vergnaud letter on Case theory canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7690538 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Vergnaud letter on Case theory Context triple: [Jean-Roger Vergnaud, knownFor, Vergnaud letter on Case theory]
-
A.
Lectures on Government and Binding
Lectures on Government and Binding is a foundational book by Noam Chomsky that systematically presents the Government and Binding framework in generative syntax.
-
B.
Principles and Parameters Theory
Principles and Parameters Theory is a framework in generative linguistics that explains how universal grammatical principles and language-specific parameter settings account for the diversity and acquisition of human languages.
-
C.
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics is a collected volume of influential articles by linguist Zellig Harris that helped shape the development of structural and early transformational approaches to language analysis.
-
D.
X-bar theory
X-bar theory is a framework in generative syntax that models the hierarchical structure of phrases using a uniform, layered projection of heads, intermediates, and maximal phrases.
-
E.
Phonology in Generative Grammar
Phonology in Generative Grammar is a foundational textbook that systematically presents the principles and methods of generative phonology within the framework of modern linguistic theory.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Vergnaud letter on Case theory Target entity description: The "Vergnaud letter on Case theory" is a seminal 1977 letter by linguist Jean-Roger Vergnaud that laid the foundations for modern Case theory in generative grammar and profoundly influenced subsequent syntactic research.
-
A.
Lectures on Government and Binding
Lectures on Government and Binding is a foundational book by Noam Chomsky that systematically presents the Government and Binding framework in generative syntax.
-
B.
Principles and Parameters Theory
Principles and Parameters Theory is a framework in generative linguistics that explains how universal grammatical principles and language-specific parameter settings account for the diversity and acquisition of human languages.
-
C.
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics is a collected volume of influential articles by linguist Zellig Harris that helped shape the development of structural and early transformational approaches to language analysis.
-
D.
X-bar theory
X-bar theory is a framework in generative syntax that models the hierarchical structure of phrases using a uniform, layered projection of heads, intermediates, and maximal phrases.
-
E.
Phonology in Generative Grammar
Phonology in Generative Grammar is a foundational textbook that systematically presents the principles and methods of generative phonology within the framework of modern linguistic theory.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
linguistic document
ⓘ
unpublished letter ⓘ work in generative grammar ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline | theoretical linguistics ⓘ |
| addressedTo |
Howard Lasnik
ⓘ
Noam Chomsky ⓘ |
| associatedWithInstitution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology ⓘ |
| associatedWithSchool | Chomskyan generative grammar ⓘ |
| author | Jean-Roger Vergnaud ⓘ |
| circulation | private correspondence ⓘ |
| citedAs | Vergnaud 1977 letter on Case ⓘ |
| coreClaim |
Case assignment is governed by syntactic configuration
ⓘ
Case is assigned structurally rather than morphologically ⓘ all noun phrases must receive abstract Case ⓘ |
| dateWritten | April 1977 ⓘ |
| field | linguistics ⓘ |
| genre | scholarly correspondence ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
often cited as origin of modern Case theory
ⓘ
seminal document in the development of Government and Binding theory ⓘ |
| impact |
laid foundations for modern Case theory
ⓘ
profoundly influenced subsequent syntactic research ⓘ |
| influenced |
Government and Binding theory
ⓘ
linked to:
Government and Binding Theory
Howard Lasnik ⓘ Minimalist Program Case theory ⓘ
linked to:
The Minimalist Program
Noam Chomsky ⓘ Principles and Parameters framework ⓘ
linked to:
Principles and Parameters Theory
subsequent Case theory ⓘ |
| inspired |
formalization of Case Filter in published work
ⓘ
integration of Case into Principles and Parameters ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1977 ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Case Filter
ⓘ
Theta theory ⓘ bounding theory ⓘ |
| status | unpublished in original form ⓘ |
| subfield |
generative grammar
ⓘ
syntax ⓘ |
| timePeriod | late 20th century ⓘ |
| topic |
Case assignment
ⓘ
Case theory ⓘ abstract Case ⓘ governing category ⓘ government ⓘ structural Case ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Vergnaud letter on Case theory Description of subject: The "Vergnaud letter on Case theory" is a seminal 1977 letter by linguist Jean-Roger Vergnaud that laid the foundations for modern Case theory in generative grammar and profoundly influenced subsequent syntactic research.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.