Apanese Syntax And Semantics

Japanese Syntax and Semantics

1. Two main themes connect the papers on Japanese syntax collected in this volume: movements of noun phrases and case marking, although each in turn relates to other issues in syntax and semantics. These two themes can be traced back to my 1965 MIT dissertation. The problem of the so-called topic marker wa is a perennial problem in Japanese linguistics. I devoted Chapter 2 of my dissertation to the problem of wa. My primary concern there was transformational genera tive syntax. I was interested in the light that Chomsky'S new theory could shed on the understanding of Japanese sentence structure. I generalized the problem of deriving wa-phrases to the problem of deriving phrases accompanied by the quantifier-like particles mo, demo, sae as well as wa. These particles, mo, demo and sae may roughly be equated with a/so, or something like it and even, respectively, and are grouped together with wa under the name of huku-zyosi as a subcategory of particles in Kokugogaku, Japanese scholarship on Japanese grammar. This taxonomy itself is a straightforward consequence of distributional analysis, and does not require the mechanisms of transformational grammar. My transformational analysis of wa, and by extension, that of the other huku zyosi, consisted in formally relating the function of the post-nominal use of wa to that of the post-predicative use by means of what I called an attachment transformation.

Problems in Japanese Syntax and Semantics

Japanese Generative Grammar

Syntax and Semantics, Volume 5: Japanese Generative Grammar focuses on the systematic application of the theory of generative grammar to the Japanese language. The phenomenon of reflexivization and its relationship to grammatical constructions, and how various grammatical constructions are systematically related to each other, are examined. The theoretical aspects of various grammatical structures of the Japanese language are also discussed. Comprised of 12 chapters, this volume begins with an introduction to the concept of subject in grammar, followed by an analysis of subject raising as a syntactic device in Japanese and other subject–object–verb (SOV) languages. Subsequent chapters explore the syntax and semantics of Japanese reflexivization, passivization, and causativization, along with relativization, complementation, and negation. Tense, aspect, and modality are also considered, along with the semantics of nominal compounds. The book concludes with an assessment of honorification as a salient feature of the Japanese language and the grammatical system of honorifics. This monograph will be of interest to grammarians and linguists.