A unified approach to differential argument marking

Differential argument marking (DAM) refers to case patterns where a marked case (e.g., accusative or ergative) is assigned only when an argument has a particular semantic property. Typically, the argument with the relevant semantic property is the same argument that receives the marked case. Surprisingly, however, it is also possible for a semantic property of one argument to influence the case of another. Focusing on simple transitive verbs within nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive case systems, this yields four logically possible DAM patterns. In this talk, I will show that all four of these patterns exist, which is unexpected from the perspective of previous approaches to DAM. I will then offer a new analysis that can derive all four patterns as a unified phenomenon. Specifically, I will explore the idea that all DAM patterns are driven by the valuation of interpretable features.