Overt Object Shift in Japanese

Abstract

Abstract. This paper argues that the DP object in Japanese always moves to the domain of vP in overt syntax. The main argument for this hypothesis comes from the transitivity restriction imposed on the genitive‐subject construction in this language. I argue that once the object is shifted to the edge of vP, the subject in the inner specifier of vP is rendered inaccessible from the higher phase head. This hypothesis also derives the well‐known ban on multiple occurrences of accusative phrases in the Japanese causative construction. The paper also makes several theoretical points. For instance, the EPP checking (in the traditional sense) is contingent on an independent Agree relation such as Case checking. Also, calculation of equidistance is confined to a very local domain of a syntactic derivation.