Kasusstrukturalität und struktureller kasus- zur lage des dativs im heutigen deutsch: 1717

It is argued here that, under certain configurational conditions, dative can be thought to be the morphological realisation of a structural case index in German. It will be shown that the theoretical uncertainty with regard to its typological status is due to two relevant factors: the empirical-methodological shortcomings of the English-orientated case concept of the Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program respectively (Chomsky 1981,1993) and the misunderstanding of the role dative plays in the so-called dative passive in German. This paper provides a unified account of its structurality, elaborating primarily a functional concept of case, following the insights of Czepluch (1988) and Raider (1993) and presenting a theoretically adequate, structural solution to the dative passive problem