On the interpretability of tense on D and its consequences for case theory Martina Wiltschko* Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, E270 1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z1 Received 20 November 2001; received in revised form 15 August 2002; accepted 25 August 2002 Abstract Pesetsky and Torrego (Pesetsky, D., Torrego, E., 2001. T-to-C movement: causes and con- sequences. In: Kenstowicz, M. (Ed.), Ken Hale: A Life in Language. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) argue that in English T on D is [interpretable] and this has the effect of structural case assignment. I propose that in Halkomelem Salish T on D is [+interpretable]. This proposal accounts for several properties of Halkomelem: i) nouns can bear tense marking, which manipulates the temporal interpretation of nouns, ii) there is no TP and iii) there is no nominative case. The value of interpretability of a given feature can thus be viewed as an important locus of parametrization. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Case; Temporal interpretation of nouns; Tense 1. Tense and nominative case It is by now a commonplace that there is a close connection between tense and nominative case which manifests itself in the following generalization: (1) Only tensed clauses can have nominative subjects. An important step towards capturing this generalization was the assumption that all NPs need abstract Case (Rouveret and Vergnaud, 1980; Vergnaud, 1982; Chomsky, 1980, 1981). Ever since, Case Theory has been concerned with developing Lingua 113 (2003) 659–696 www.elsevier.com/locate/lingua 0024-3841/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0024-3841(02)00116-X * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-604-822-5417; fax: +1-604-822-9687. E-mail address: wmartina@interchange.ubc.ca (M. Wiltschko).