Mineharu Nakayama

Remarks on Japanese subjects

Abstract It has been proposed that subjects are base-generated under VP (VP internal subjects hypothesis). In this paper, we argue that the VP internal subject hypothesis that allows the subject to be base-generated under VP and move above VP at S-structure is not warranted in Japanese. Four pieces of evidence are discussed: floating numeral quantifiers; pseudo-cleft constructions; temporal phrases; and secondary depictive predicates. These collectively indicate that the subjects of unergative and transitive verbs are base-generated above VP while the subjects of unaccusatives and direct passives are base-generated under VP (i.e., the object position) in Japanese. The unaccusatives and the direct passives are different in that the subjects of the direct passives must be above VP at S-structure while the subject of the unaccusative can be at the object position.

Purpose clauses in Japanese

Abstract Japanese purposive expressions with formatives tameni and yooni are analyzed as purpose clauses in this paper. These constructions partake in what is commonly referred to as “null operator movement”. We establish this claim by demonstrating that purposeclauses exhibit lack of Subjacency effects, Reconstruction effects, and Weak Crossover effects, and the possibility of resumptive pronouns. Since these characteristics are similar to those found in thematic topicalization, relative clauses, tough, comparative and cleft constructions in Japanese, which are regarded as the null operator constructions, we claim that the purpose clause constructions, too, fall under the null operator constructions in Japanese.

Zibun and locality in L2 Japanese

Abstract Second language learners encounter difficulty in interpreting the anaphoric relationship between a reflexive pronoun and its antecedent because they often fail to reset their parameter appropriately. However, the recent interface theory has called this parameter conversion approach into question, in particular, whether L2 learners do indeed reset their language parameter during the course of L2 acquisition. This paper explores this issue by conducting an experiment with a truth-value judgment task on the interpretations of zibun among English and Chinese speaking adult learners of Japanese. The results support our hypothesis that the short-distance interpretation of zibun can be acquired early if “locality” is the core notion of human cognition, as assumed in Universal Grammar, whereas long distance interpretation takes time to acquire because of the syntax-pragmatics interface. We emphasize that the parameter resetting approach cannot provide a plausible account for this “short vs. long” asymmetry in the acquisition of zibun binding.