On the Syntax of Agreement in the Left Periphery with special reference to Honorific Agreement

Abstract

The first goal of this paper is to provide a predication analysis of addressee honorific endings in the form of speech style particles, such as -yo or -supnita, which are often considered the result of agreement with an addressee. Specifically, building on a recent view that there are independent functional projections for discourse arguments in the left periphery, I suggest that this type of agreement is a predication relation between the speech style particle under SA⁰ and an addressee in Spec-SAP. The second goal is to offer an Agree-based analysis of two types of non-subject-controlled honorific -si: topic-controlled -si and addressee-controlled -si. Given that honorific -si in both cases is available even in the absence of an honorifiable subject, I maintain that both types are the result of Agree between a topical element in Spec-TopP and a verbal complex raised to Top⁰. I argue, however, that these two types of -si should be distinguished in the availability of a honorifiable topic.