Morphologically Complex Predicates in Japanese and What They Tell Us About Grammar Architecture

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WPL_56_Autumn_2001_001.pdf (974.21 KB)

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2001

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Ohio State University. Department of Linguistics

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In this paper we take a fresh look at an old problem, the syntax and semantics of Japanese causatives. We demonstrate some seldom-noted similarities causatives bear to other Japanese morphologically complex predicates and argue why these similarities are important. Following a survey and critique of past analyses, we conclude that the principle of compositionality is at the root of the deficiencies of these analyses. We thus propose a modified, slightly non-compositional version of Manning et al.’s (1999) analysis, similar in spirit to Minimal Recursion Semantics (Copestake et al. 1995, 1999). We conclude with some discussion of possible replacements for compositionality.

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Working Papers in Linguistics, no. 56 (2001), 1-52.

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http://hdl.handle.net/1811/80890

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Working Papers in Linguistics: Volume 56 (Autumn 2001)