Ergative and accusative behave as dependent cases insofar as their appearance on a nominal depends on the presence of another nominal in the same domain. Recent work has taken the phenomenon of case dependency to challenge the idea that case is assigned via Agree. Focusing on Shawi (Kawapanan; Peru), we show not only that case dependency can be captured via Agree, but also that doing so opens up a new way of understanding the typology of global case splits. Ergative in Shawi appears when the subject is at least as high as the object on the person hierarchy—a global split—and can be accompanied by explicit realization of the object’s features on the subject (“object agreement on the subject”). We propose that ergative arises in Shawi when a probe on v Agrees with both the object and the subject, transferring object features to the subject; these features are spelled out as ergative case and as object agreement. In general, we show that dependent cases, both ergative and accusative, can be seen as a morphological outcome of Agree between a probe and a second goal, realizing features on that goal that were transferred from a previous goal in an earlier step of Agree.

When we couple the cyclic expansion of a probe’s domain assumed in Cyclic Agree ( Rezac 2003 , 2004 , Béjar and Rezac 2009 ) with the lack of formal distinction between heads, intermediate projections, and phrases emphasized in Bare Phrase Structure ( Chomsky 1995a , b ), an interesting prediction arises. Maximal projections should be able to probe through the same mechanisms that allow intermediate projections to probe in familiar cases of Cyclic Agree. I argue that this prediction is borne out. I analyze agreeing adjunct C in Amahuaca (Panoan; Peru) as a maximal projection that probes its c-command domain in second-cycle Agree. This account derives C’s simultaneous sensitivity to DPs within its own clause and in the clause to which it adjoins. Therefore, I conclude that Amahuaca provides evidence that maximal projections can be probes. The account also yields insight into the syntax of switch-reference in Panoan and beyond.

The Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC) rules out head-final projections that immediately dominate head-initial projections. Syntactically inert particles are known to show (apparent) exceptions to FOFC. However, Biberauer (2017) argues that seemingly FOFC-violating particles comply with a version of FOFC that is relativized to heads within an extended projection ( Biberauer, Holmberg, and Roberts 2014 ). I present novel data from Amahuaca (Panoan; Peru) in which FOFC is violated by tense-aspect-mood particles within the verbal extended projection. I argue that this FOFC violation cannot be explained by the mechanisms proposed by Biberauer (2017) . Instead, a view of FOFC grounded in restrictions on rightward dependencies ( Cecchetto 2013 , Zeijlstra 2016 ) predicts the type of exception found in Amahuaca.