Abstract
Resultative phrases in Japanese are generally believed to be predicated of the object of transitive verbs just like English counterparts (e.g., I painted the car yellow). However, some exceptions are also known in which resultatives describe an oblique argument (e.g., otoko-wa kabe-ni penki-o akaku nutta ‘the man smeared paint on the wall (so that the wall became) red)'. Using BCCWJ-NT corpus data, this paper shows that resultatives with locative alternation verbs in Japanese are generally interpreted as description of the argument that is lexically specified to undergo a change of state, rather than of the direct object.
Highlights
The resultative construction is a sentence with a resultative phrase, which describes a resultant state of a participant following the event described by the verb
Resultative phrases in Japanese are generally believed to conform to the Direct Object Restriction just like English: that is, they describe the direct object if verbs are transitive
Some exceptions have occasionally been reported, and this paper investigates the problem by focusing on resultative phrases that cooccur with locative alternation verbs in Japanese
Summary
Resultative phrases in Japanese are generally believed to be predicated of the object of transitive verbs just like English counterparts (e.g., I painted the car yellow). Some exceptions are known in which resultatives describe an oblique argument (e.g., otoko-wa kabe-ni penki-o akaku nutta ‘the man smeared paint on the wall (so that the wall became) red’). Using BCCWJ-NT corpus data, this paper shows that resultatives with locative alternation verbs in Japanese are generally interpreted as description of the argument that is lexically specified to undergo a change of state, rather than of the direct object. Resultative construction; the Direct Object Restriction; locative alternation; argument realization; Japanese Keywords. resultative construction; the Direct Object Restriction; locative alternation; argument realization; Japanese
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