Accusative Arguments Research Articles

An experimental investigation of the Deep Double-o Constraint in Japanese causative constructions

Abstract The Double-o Constraint (DoC) was proposed to explain the ungrammaticality of having two or more noun phrases (NPs) marked by the accusative case marker -o in a single Japanese clause. It has been argued that there are two types of DoCs: the Surface Double-o Constraint (SDoC) and the Deep Double-o Constraint (DDoC). The DDoC prohibits two accusative arguments in a single argument structure and is not affected by the number of accusative case markers on the surface. The evidence is from Japanese causatives. Our study conducted an experiment to test the DDoC and found that it may only apply to some native Japanese speakers.

On the subject-orientation of the dispositional middle construction

Abstract This article argues against the claim that the dispositional middle construction is always subject-oriented, by discussing dispositional constructions in Japanese and impersonal middle constructions formed with the causative verb lassen ‘let’ in German. In Japanese, the disposition is ascribed not to the nominative subject, but to an object. In German, nominative subjects are not required. This suggests that subject orientedness is not inherent but arises from the properties of independently existing constructions that are interpeted as dispositional. In English and German, an intransitive or a reflexive construction derived from its transitive variant is employed as a canonical middle construction. In these cases, the accusative argument becomes a nominative subject by applying specific grammatical operations; thus, the expression of a subject becomes obligatory. In contrast, a potential construction is interpreted as dispositional in Japanese in which case the disposition is typically ascribed to the object with nominative case, which is almost obligatory in Japanese. It follows that the target of the disposition in middle constructions is a grammatically “highlighted” event participant, as in the case of root modals.

An experimental investigation of the deep double-<em>o</em> constraint in Japanese causative constructions

The double-o constraint (DoC) (Harada, 1973) was proposed to explain the ungrammaticality of having two or more noun phrases (NPs) marked by the accusative case marker -o in a single Japanese clause. Poser (2002) argued for two types of DoCs: the surface double-o constraint (SDoC) and the deep double-o constraint (DDoC). The DDoC prohibits two accusative arguments in a single argument structure and is not affected by the number of accusative case markers on the surface. The evidence is from Japanese causatives. Our study conducted an experiment to test the DDoC and found that it may not exist.

Lowest theme vowels or highest roots? An ‘unaccusative’ theme-vowel class in Slovenian

This paper focuses on the e/i theme vowel class of verbs in Slovenian to bring together two seemingly unrelated debates: (i) the debate on the correlation between theme vowel classes with certain argument structures and (ii) the debate on the status of derivational affixes within the framework of Distributed Morphology. Our core data come from a list of 108 unaccusative verbs obtained using the adjectival active l-participles as an unaccusativity diagnostic. We show that (i) no unaccusative verbs belong to the two largest theme vowel classes in Slovenian (a/a and i/i), whereas (ii) the two big theme vowel classes tend to get accusative arguments quite frequently. Most importantly, (iii) the e/i-class stands out since more than one half of the unaccusative sample falls into it. The e/i-class is furthermore exceptional in that its theme vowel surfaces in adjectival l-participles, it is the theme vowel class to which inchoatives in inchoative-causative pairs belong and it behaves uniformly with respect to stress. Based on this behavior which sets the e/i-class apart from other theme vowel-classes, we argue that the morpheme e/i is better analyzed as a derivational affix. We further argue, following Lowenstamm (2014), that derivational affixes are transitive roots rather than categorizers and propose detailed PF and LF instructions for the root under consideration.

Case System of Contemporary Czech and Tendency toward its Deflexivization

체코어는 슬라브어를 포함한 여러 굴절어 가운데 격 체계가 가장 복잡한 언어 중 하나로 잘 알려져 있다. 7개의 전통적인 체코어의 격 체계를 지탱하고 있는 개별 격들의 고유의 기능들은 언어 발달의 과정에서 사라지거나 다른 격으로 병합되는 등 일정한 탈굴절화 경향이 나타나고 있다. 이러한 경향은 굴절성이 높은 제(諸) 슬라브어에 전반적으로 나타나는 ‘언어의 분석화’라는 광의의 접근을 가능하게 한다. 체코어에서 매우 활발히 진행 중인 탈굴절화는 격 체계 변화의 구조화 즉 통사화의 경향과 밀접한 관련이 있다. 의미적 유표성이 현저한 생격, 여격, 호격, 조격과 같은 소위 ‘주변격(Peripheral Cases)’을 통사 구조상 핵심에 해당하는 주격이나 대격과 같은 구조격으로 대체하는 경향이 이에 해당하는데 그 중에서 생격으로 실현되던 술어의 직접목적어의 논항이 대격으로 대체되는 언어 체계의 변화가 이 연구의 논의의 주요 대상이다. 체코어 격 체계의 탈굴절화는 모국어 화자가 구어 환경에서 추구하는 언어표현의 명시성과 정확성 그리고 단순성과 통일성의 결과로 추정된다. 언어의 효율적 사용을 지향하는 이와 같은 화용론적 지배원리는 향후 체코어의 언어체계 내적 변화를 이끌어 갈 것이라고 예상한다.The Case system of Czech shows very complicated inflectional morphology in that it has 7 Case paradigms with various endings according to three genders and two numbers. Contemporary Czech demonstrates the tendency toward the deflexivization in the Case system: in the process of language development, relevant semantic features and syntactic roles to individual case disappear or are merged into other Case functions. In this respect, most Slavic languages are assumed to demonstrate this tendency as well in that analytical tendencies are the ones which are leading to a decrease of morphemes in a language. As a distinct example of deflexivization in Czech Case system, we discuss the pervasive use of the accusative case within the verb argument structures where the accusative argument substitutes for the bookish and archaic genitive argument in the object position. As another important point of deflexivization, I introduce the popular use of Genitive Case instead of the typical the Possessive adjectives to express the possession in Czech. Czech natives prefer this simpler form of Case ending than the Possessive adjectives. They are supported by the general tendency to use of more explicative and exact expression of the meaning and by concrete needs of such explicitness.

Многофакторный анализ русской стихийной имперсональной конструкции

The adversity impersonal construction involves two arguments: an accusative and an instrumental. The order of these two elements is investigated with the help of 669 examples taken from a Russian corpus, and the analysis shows that the primary determinants of the word order are the pronominality of the accusative argument and the length difference between the arguments. These results are consistent with the idea that fast recognition of the sentential structure is a primary factor in sentence processing. A less influential, but still significant, variable is the animacy of the accusative—when the accusative is animate it is more prone to precede the instrumental argument. This finding shows that animacy directly affects word order in Russian.

Processability Theory and German Case Acquisition

This article represents the first attempt to formulate a hypothetical sequence for German case acquisition by Dutch‐speaking learners on the basis of Processability Theory (PT). It will be argued that case forms emerge corresponding to a development from lexical over phrasal to interphrasal morphemes. This development, however, is subject to a correction factor due to the principle of direct mapping. In addition, the unmarked alignment hypothesis allows for a differentiation between similar case contexts (e.g., preverbal and postverbal nominative or accusative arguments). A cross‐sectional study was performed in order to examine whether the German case system is indeed acquired according to the hypotheses derived from PT. “Fill‐in‐the‐blanks‐exercises” were analyzed from 704 Flemish second‐language learners of German. The results of the study do indeed suggest a development in line with PT.

Ground Arguments in German Particle Verbs: A Comparison with Dutch and English

I discuss the following three topics with respect to German particle verbs with a ground argument. First, I consider the difference between anlächeln and zulächeln ‘smile at’ in German. In the former the accusative argument represents a ground, whereas in the latter the dative argument is licensed by inalienable semantics. Second, I discuss why a ground can be expressed by a dative in the German verb zueilen ‘hurry toward’, whereas in the corresponding Dutch verb toesnelln the preposition naar or op ‘to’ is necessary. This difference is due to the fact that German has a low dative. Finally, I consider the question of why expressions like ∗pour the glass in or ∗load the truck on are not allowed in English, whereas the corresponding expressions are possible in German and Dutch. This results from a difference in the syntactic structure of particle verbs in the languages.*

Chomsky’s derivation-by-phase theory as applied to judgments of the grammaticality of Japanese double accusative sentences

Four experiments explored the psychological reality of Chomsky’s derivation-by-phase theory. Speakers of Japanese judged the grammaticality of Japanese simple sentences involving two accusative arguments, each related with a single verb. In Experiment 1 one argument (a part-argument) constituted a part of the other argument (a whole-argument) and a part-argument either preceded or followed a whole-argument. Either the two arguments were concatenated or one argument was scrambled up to the sentence initial position. Judged grammaticality of the two types of sentences, concatenated and scrambled, was found comparably low, with no difference between them. Experiment 2 compared the two types of sentences with sentences including an adverbial phrase between the two arguments. The latter sentences were judged higher than the former for both the concatenated and the scrambled sentences. In Experiments 3 and 4, judged grammaticality increased as the distance between the two arguments was increased. Each of these findings could not be predicted by the derivation-by-phase theory. Implications of the findings for Chomsky’s mentalist position on speakers’ knowledge of language were discussed.

Ditransitive idioms and argument structure

One controversial issue in the literature on Japanese concerns the question of whether the surface accusative-dative order of ditransitive constructions is base-generated or derived by syntactic movement. In the light of nominalized clauses in which dative-V and accusative-V idioms are embedded, this article shows that ditransitive verbs project an argument structure whereby dative arguments could be base-generated to either the left or the right of accusative arguments, as countenanced by the base-generation hypothesis for the argument order of ditransitive verbs. Nevertheless, dative arguments are not freely ordered relative to accusative arguments. We argue that with ordinary ditransitive verbs, only the dative-accusative order is available by base-generation, the reverse order being derived via syntactic movement, as conceived by the movement hypothesis. We suggest that the dative position below an accusative argument does not reside in a θ-marking domain, and thus it can be filled only by idiomatic dative arguments that are interpreted without θ-role assignment. The data show that both base-generation and movement analyses are necessary for characterizing the word order variation of Japanese ditransitive verbs.

Structural Ambiguities in the Light Verb Constructions: Lexical Relatedness and Divergence

One of the most widely used constructions in Korean is the so-called light verb construction (LVC) involving an active-denoting verbal noun (VN) together with the light verb ha-ta ‘do’. This paper first discusses the argument composition of the LVC, mixed properties of VNs both of which have provided a challenge to syntactic analyses with a strict version of X-bar theory. The paper shows the mechanism of multiple classification of category types with systematic inheritance can provide an eective way of capturing these mixed properties. In particular, it assumes that VNs have both [N +] and [V +] features to reflect their dual properties. The paper also addresses the issue of relatedness and divergence between the VNs with an accusative argument and those without it. An implementation of the analysis within the LKB (Linguistics Knowledge Building) system also proves its feasibility and eciency.

Finding needles in haystacks: Symbolic resonance analysis of event-related potentials unveils different processing demands

Previous ERP studies have found an N400–P600 pattern in sentences in which the number of arguments does not match the number of arguments that the verb can take. In the present study, we elaborate on this question by investigating whether the case of the mismatching object argument in German (accusative/direct object versus dative/indirect object) affects processing differently. In general, both types of mismatches elicited a biphasic N400–P600 response in the ERP. However, traditional voltage average analysis was unable to reveal differences between the two mismatching conditions, that is, between a mismatching accusative versus dative. Therefore, we employed a recently developed method on ERP data analysis, the symbolic resonance analysis (SRA), where EEG epochs are symbolically encoded in sequences of three symbols depending on a given parameter, the encoding threshold. We found a larger proportion of threshold crossing events with negative polarity in the N400 time window for a mismatching dative argument compared to a mismatching accusative argument. By contrast, the proportion of threshold crossing events with positive polarity was smaller for dative in the P600 time window. We argue that this difference is due to the phenomenon of “free dative” in German. This result also shows that the SRA provides a useful tool for revealing ERP differences that cannot be discovered using the traditional voltage average analysis.

Quantifier float and information processing: a case study from Japanese

Previously proposed syntactic and semantic analyses of quantifier float (Q-Float) in Japanese have failed to explain why there is a mismatch in the syntactic range of Q-Float between speakers’ judgment (nominative and accusative arguments) and discourse (absolutive arguments). This paper describes quantifier float in Japanese in terms of a mechanism of cognitive attention and claims that two conditions hold: (i) a host noun to be matched with the floated quantifier must be activated in attention, and (ii) the host should require a greater activation cost than the other potential quantifier host in order to achieve optimal processing. The former sets up a preliminary condition which predicts an acceptable range in the speaker's judgment, and the latter limits Q-Float to the range in which the processing of the sentence is optimized. The second condition above predicts not only the ergative distribution of Q-Float in discourse but also the long-observed subject-object asymmetry in sentences with scrambled Q-Float.

Two Types of Ditransitive Consturctions in Japanese

This paper argues that there are two types of ditransitive verbs in Japanese that associate their dative arguments with different structural positions: one projects the dative argument in a lower position than the accusative argument, whereas the other generates it in a higher position than the accusative argument. Evidence for this proposal comes from a difference observed in causative-inchoative alternations of ditransitive verbs. One type of verb promotes the accusative argument to the subject of the inchoative variant, which is discussed in Baker (1993, 1995). However, the other type advances the dative argument to the subject. It is also claimed that the dative arguments of the two types of verbs are distinguished by thematic role: one is goal, whereas the other is experiencer. Furthermore, this paper deals with issues concerning the structure of a passive construction, locality of A-movement, and the structural condition on bound variable reading of a pronoun.

Überlegungen zu zwei Unterschieden zwischen der Mittelkonstruktion des Deutschen, Englischen und Niederländischen

This paper discusses two problems about middle constructions in German, English and Dutch. The first question is why a reflexive pronoun occurs only in German middle constructions. After having discussed expressions for grooming actions and inchoative situations, it is pointed out that only in German reflexive pronouns can occur in sentences in which the external argument is suppressed. Following Steinbach (2002), it is then argued that only German reflexives can mediate the linking of the syntactic subject to the internal argument. The second question is why middle constructions can be formed from so-called double object verbs in German, but not in English and Dutch. After having pointed out that middle constructions are not compatible with an accusative argument, it is claimed that morphological coding patterns for indirect objects contribute to the language difference: Whereas in English and Dutch indirect objects remaining in middle constructions are encoded in accusative, they are expressed in dative in German.