Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the indirect object of a ditransitive verb is always base-generated higher than the direct object. The word order alternation between the arguments in Japanese is the result of scrambling. I present new evidence for this approach from the Chain Condition effect in the sense of Rizzi (1986). I show that we observe the Chain Condition effect with the reflexive anaphor karezisin 'himself' when the word order is that of direct object-indirect object but not vice versa, which supports the movement analysis of the word order alteration. It has been observed that we do not obtain the Chain Condition effect with the reciprocal anaphor otagai 'each other'. I argue that this observation follows from the syntax and semantics of the reciprocal anaphor, and hence, does not constitute evidence against the movement analysis.

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