OF NOMINATIVES AND DATIVES^477sitive to one or both of the arguments of a predicate. The special case of
sensitivity to only one-argument, called "local" case-marking, determines
that all NPs below a certain point in the hierarchy, i.e., intersection of fea
ture values, get special inflectional characterization (whether by mor
phological, constituent ordering, accentual, or whatever means) when
they are the Agent of a predicate, and or that all NPs above a certain point
(not necessarily the same) in the hierarchy get special inflectional charac
terization when they are the Patient of a predicate, and one or the other or
both principles apply to every NP type in the hierarchy, so that every NP
has at least one positive mark. For the systems of "global" case-marking,
such as Dalabon (Australia) or Kaluli (New Guinea), it is the hierarchical
relationship of the feature values of the NPs serving as Agent — Patient in
a two-argument propositional structure which determines, in one of three
ways, whether or not there is a special case-marking: (a) a particular NP
gets special surface treatment when it is the Agent lower than any NP of
specified position serving as Patient; (b) a particular NP gets special surface
treatment when it is the Patient higher than any NP of specified position
serving as Agent; (c) there is a "direct" marker on, say, the verb in surface
form when the Agent-Patient hierarchical relationship is downward (Agent
higher, Patient lower), and an "inverse" marker when the Agent-Patient
hierarchical relationship is upward (Agent lower, Patient higher), "direct"
being generally unmarked or zero for the majority of two-place predicates,
"inverse" being generally marked (and note its conditions and output com
bine conditions (a) and (b)). This is the typical, Algonquian system, from
which the terms originate. These systems are summarized in Figure 5.
All other things being equal, then, case-marking systems for certain
NPs in a main clause can be differentiated according to the formal-func
tional principles of lexically-controlled split of Agent-Patient-Subject case-
marking into ergative:absolutive, accusative:nominative (to name the
marked case first), on a local basis or a global basis, the latter being global
ergative, global accusative, and inverse:direct case-markings. So note that
there co-exist — sometimes in the same clause — case-marking schemata
for the very same underlying propositional function, depending on the par
ticular noun phrase that serves in that function. Part of what surface case-
marking is coding is this inherent lexical content of the NP arguments in
these three functions.
More broadly, however, looking to the second, propositional level
which orients case-marking systems, we must account for the traditional