The Syntax of Subjunctive Complements: Evidence from Japanese

A. Uchibori, 2000

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          This dissertation aims to present a syntactic analysis of seemingly problematic, but intriguing properties of the subjunctive complements in Japanese concerning Tense (T), Case for subjects, and the locality of A-scrambling, under the Minimalist Program pursued by Chomsky (1995, 1998, 1999)

          Chapter 2 provides basic descriptions concerning the categorial status and the distribution of subjunctive clauses. I establish that the two forms, -yoo(ni-(to)) and -koto, are the subjunctive complementizers introducing finite clauses.

          Chapter 3 discusses the Case properties of complement subjects and their control property. It is indicated that subject-to-subject raising takes place out of a certain type of subjunctive complement. It is also demonstrated that while only nominative Case is licensed for subjects in some other types of subjunctive complement, both nominative Case and null Case are actually available in the rest. I also discuss how the control property of empty subjects is related to interaction between the semantics of the governing verbs and the aspectual property of complement predicates.

          The tense property of subjunctive complements is deeply investigated in Chapter 4. It is observed that T in a certain group of subjunctive complements is defective with respect to tense morphology, licensing of temporal adverbs, and tense interpretations of nonpast stative predicates. I point out that nominative Case and null Case are correlated with [+tense] feature and defective [-past] feature, respectively.

          Chapter 5 presents two analyses of the fact that long-distance A-scrambling is allowed out of subjunctive CP complements, but not out of non-subjunctive CP complements. One analysis accounts for the case in which defective T occurs in the complement. Based on Chomsky's (1998, 1999) hypothesis concerning strong phases, I propose that CP of which head selects defective T does not count as a strong phase. The other analysis explains the case of the complement headed by -koto, in which complete T appears. Based on -koto's rich nominal property, I assume that the Spec of -koto is an A-/L-related position. Furthermore, it is suggested that V-to-T movement is not a necessary condition on A-scrambling and that A-scrambling is movement of a different kind from A'-scrambling.

Chapter 1     Introduction                                                                1

1.1.    A Problem: Transparency of Subjunctive Complements in

          Japanese                                                                                 1

1.2.    An Overview of the Dissertation                                                6

Chapter 2     Preliminary Discussions: The Distributions and the

                    Categorial Status of -yoo(ni(to)) and -koto                              10

2.1.    -Yoo(ni(to))                                                                            12

          2.1.1. The Distribution                                                            12

          2.1.2. The Categorial Status as C0                                            29

2.2.    -Koto                                                                                      41

          2.2.1. The Distribution                                                            41

          2.2.2. The Nominal Property of -koto as a Complementizer         44

Appentix 1:    On a Certain Difference in Interpretation between

                    Subjunctive and Non-Subjunctive Relative Clauses            56

Chapter 3     Raising, Control, and Lexical and PRO/pro Subjects    58

3.1.    Subject-to-Subject Raising                                                       60

3.2.    Lexical/Empty Subjects and the Control Requirement                   79

          3.2.1. Non-Control Type Complements                                     80

          3.2.2. Nominative and pro Subjects                                          83

3.3.    PRO Gate Effects                                                                    112

Chapter 4     The Tense Property and the Case properties of Subjects        136

4.1.    [+/- Past] Tense                                                                      140

4.2.    (In)dependent Tense                                                                147

4.3.    (Un)ambiguity of Nonpast Predicates                                                    153

4.4.    Mapping from Tense Features to Tense Structures                      163

4.5.    Correlation Between Tense Features and The Case Properties

          for Subjects                                                                            183

Chapter 5     Long-distance A-scrambling, Phase of Derivation, and

                    L-Relatedness of CP Spec                                            210

5.1.    Data: Long-distance A-scrambling out of Subjunctive

          Complements                                                                          212

5.2.    Long-distance A-scrambling out of Subjunctive CP Complements 224

          5.2.1. The deficiency of T and non-propositional status of CP     231

          5.2.2. The L-relatedness of the Spec of the nominal subjunctive

                    complementizer -koto                                                    239

5.3.    Against V-to-T Movement Approach to Long-distance

          A-scrambling                                                                           244

5.4.    The PBC and a Non-Uniform Treatment of A/A'-Scrambling        251

5.5.    Conclusion                                                                              262

Appendix 2:   Data: other types of long-distance dependency across

                    subjunctive CP complements                                          265

References                                                                                       272