On the so-called small clause constructions in Japanese
Rumiko Sode · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2000
This dissertation investigates the Japanese Small Clause (SC) constructions within a theory o f generative grammar.The two main issues discussed are the properties o f the adjectival predicates which appear in the SC complement positions and the structures o f such complements.The structural analysis focuses on two types o f sentences; the om ou sentence, in which the SC is the complement o f epistemic verbs such as om ou 'think'; and the sentences with suru 'make'/ naru become', in which the two verbs have been proposed in the literature to be raising verbs taking SC complements.Following the introduction.Chapter 2 presents a critical summary o f major works on SCs in Enghsh and Japanese.The two main analyses o f SCs in the literature, phrasal and clausal, are contrasted with each other as well as with two non-SC analyses, i.e., the complex predicate analysis and the predication-based analysis.CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0.Purpose o f the study The purpose of this dissertation is to study the properties o f the so-called Small Clauses (SCs) in Japanese.Although there is a large body o f literature on SCs which cites examples from a v aried o f languages including English, Italian, and Hebrew (e.g., Cardinaletti and Guasti 1995), relatively little has been studied on such constructions in Japanese (cf.Kikuchi and Takahashi 1991).The two major contributions of the present study to the area of Japanese linguistics are the following: (i) the structure of the SC in Japanese and (ii) the restrictions on the semantic Qpes o f adjectival predicates which can occur as SC predicates.W e will propose that the SC-like constituents in Japanese are full clauses, either a CP or an IP.The adjectives which can occur in the SC complements will be claimed to be both semantically and syntactically unique: a type o f two-place adjective which takes NP objects denoting the entier toward which the subject's feeling is directed.The adjectival predicates in SC constmctions will also be claimed to be a type o f copular predicate.Thus, in addition to explaining the SC-like constructions o f Japanese, this study will further our understanding o f copular constructions and predication structures in Japanese.