(By Bernard Comrie): "The core argument of a canonical, one-place intransitive predicate may be symbolized S. The two core arguments of a canonical, two-place transitive predicate may be symbolized as A and P, with A representing the more agent-like argument and P the more patient-like (Comrie 1978). (In another terminology, the symbol O is used rather than P; Dixon 1994.) In studying the alignment of case marking, we ask the question which of S, A, and P are coded identically and which are coded differently. Note that for the purposes of this chapter, only case marking is considered. Alignment of person marking in the verb is treated in Chapter 100. Other manifestations of alignment are also possible, such as word order, but are not treated here. ❡
Pronouns merit a separate map from full noun phrases because in many languages pronouns have a different case marking system from full noun phrases — 23 languages in the sample used for these Chapters (25 if the marked nominative system is considered distinct from the rest of nominative–accusative). In English, for instance, while full noun phrases have a neutral case marking system, pronouns have a nominative–accusative system, e.g. with we for S and A but us for P. Some of the problems discussed in §2 apply also in the case of personal pronouns, and in such instances similar solutions are applied, with one additional criterion, namely the assignment of some weight to differentiating pronouns from full noun phrases. Thus, in English some pronouns have a nominative–accusative system, while others (in particular, second person you ) do not; the nominative–accusative system is selected here in part because it differs from the case marking system for full noun phrases. Sometimes the problems that occur with full noun phrases occur with somewhat less force in the case of pronouns; for instance, several languages where full noun phrase Ps sometimes take an accusative marker and sometimes not require pronouns to take this marker (e.g. Persian), so that there is no hesitation in assigning them to the nominative–accusative type with respect to case marking of pronouns. However, pronouns bring with them a host of other problems that can lead to uncertainties in assigning languages to case marking alignment types with respect to their pronominal systems."