Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-270).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-165). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 S27 / Master of Arts

This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the Japanese double-ga construction and offers an explanation as to why the Japanese double-ga construction does not allow scrambling. In chapter 2, the particle-ga and the particle-wa are defined as the focus marker and the topic marker respectively. The different shades of meaning that both particles have are also explained. Chapter 3 illustrates the Japanese double -ga construction. Chapter 4 deals with the impossibility of scrambling in the double-particle constructions. A strong parallelism is shown between the double-ga construction and the double-wa construction. The claim is that there are three "pragmatic slots" that the particle-ga and -wa can occupy in the sentence. The rigid-fixed-order of these three slots contributes to the prohibition of scrambling.

This dissertation examines how information structure is represented in the different components of Japanese grammar. Each chapter investigates how topic/comment structure and focus/background structure are manifested in a given component of the grammar; that is, in phonology, syntax, and discourse/semantics. In chapter 2,1 investigate the interaction of syntax and prosody. I introduce the End-based analysis proposed by Selkirk &Tateishi (1988, 91) and propose certain revisions in order to accommodate a broader range of empirical facts than has previously been discussed in the literature. I show that presentational focus and contrastive focus are phonologically distinct and that contrastive focus overrides phonological phrasing. I then demonstrate that the system of focus projection proposed for stress languages such as English and German applies to Japanese. I show that focus projection takes place in the syntactic component, prior to mapping into prosodic structure, from the head of the phrase to its sisters (cf. Rochemont 1996) In chapter 3, I establish the discourse function of wa-marking in Japanese, extending Buring's analysis of sentence topics. I demonstrate that the discourse function of wa-marking parallels that of the L H * contour (B-accent) in English, and claim that wa-marking is equivalent to T-marking in the model of Biiring (1998). As such, wa-marking can be viewed as one of the discourse strategies available in Japanese for ensuring that a given assertion is congruent - that is, appropriate - to the question under discussion. In chapter 4,1 investigate the representation of information structure in syntax. I propose a phrase structure for Japanese based on a universal hierarchy of functional categories. I then divide the syntactic structure of Japanese into two major syntactic domains, which I call the topic domain and the comment domain. I show that both sentence topics and contrastively focused constituents must not be inside IP, which is identified as the comment domain. I further argue that subjects outside IP must be wa-marked unless contrastively focused. I conclude that syntactic structure is discourse-configurationally based. To conclude, I discuss the architecture of the grammar that emerges from the proposal defended in each chapter of this dissertation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation examines how information structure is represented in the different components of Japanese grammar. Each chapter investigates how topic/comment structure and focus/background structure are manifested in a given component of the grammar; that is, in phonology, syntax, and discourse/semantics. In chapter 2,1 investigate the interaction of syntax and prosody. I introduce the End-based analysis proposed by Selkirk &Tateishi (1988, 91) and propose certain revisions in order to accommodate a broader range of empirical facts than has previously been discussed in the literature. I show that presentational focus and contrastive focus are phonologically distinct and that contrastive focus overrides phonological phrasing. I then demonstrate that the system of focus projection proposed for stress languages such as English and German applies to Japanese. I show that focus projection takes place in the syntactic component, prior to mapping into prosodic structure, from the head of the phrase to its sisters (cf. Rochemont 1996) In chapter 3, I establish the discourse function of wa-marking in Japanese, extending Buring's analysis of sentence topics. I demonstrate that the discourse function of wa-marking parallels that of the L H * contour (B-accent) in English, and claim that wa-marking is equivalent to T-marking in the model of Biiring (1998). As such, wa-marking can be viewed as one of the discourse strategies available in Japanese for ensuring that a given assertion is congruent - that is, appropriate - to the question under discussion. In chapter 4,1 investigate the representation of information structure in syntax. I propose a phrase structure for Japanese based on a universal hierarchy of functional categories. I then divide the syntactic structure of Japanese into two major syntactic domains, which I call the topic domain and the comment domain. I show that both sentence topics and contrastively focused constituents must not be inside IP, which is identified as the comment domain. I further argue that subjects outside IP must be wa-marked unless contrastively focused. I conclude that syntactic structure is discourse-configurationally based. To conclude, I discuss the architecture of the grammar that emerges from the proposal defended in each chapter of this dissertation. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

This thesis shows the different features of Korean reflexives compared to Japanese reflexives. In Chapter 1, the differences of Japanese and Korean reflexives are discussed morphologically and syntactically. The general referential relationship of Japanese and Korean reflexives is discussed. In Chapter 2, empathy expressions of the Japanese reflexive zibun and Korean reflexive caki is discussed. In Chapter 3, the semantic interpretation of the plural form of Japanese and Korean reflexive, zibun-tati and caki-tul, is discussed. In Chapter 4, a brief conclusion is presented. Further work on Korean reflexives is necessary to account for Korean anaphora.

This thesis provides an analysis of Possessor Raising (PR) in a minimalist framework. I examine four languages that exhibit PR, namely Japanese, Korean, Kinyarwanda, and Swahili. I propose that cross-linguistic variation of PR in these languages is captured by the single notion of Multiple Feature-Checking (MFC). In addition to cross-linguistic variation of surface syntax of PR, this thesis also examines a universal feature of PR, namely the relational noun restriction. PR raises an interesting problem with the mapping relation between an argument DP and its grammatical function (GF). A DP is normally associated with a unique GF (i.e., a one-to-one mapping relation), but in some cases such as passive, a DP may be associated with more than one GF, being both an underlying object and a surface subject (i.e., a one-to-many). PR also poses another type of mapping relation, namely a many-to-one relation; under PR, a possessor DP may also bear the GF of its host. In order to capture such a many-to-one relation between a DP and its GF in PR, I propose that this is an example of MFC, which is defined as follows: (i) MFC is possible only if a Formal Feature (FF) of a head (T and v) can escape deletion. (ii) MFC applies to both strong and weak FFs. In contrast to the original formulation of MFC (cf. Chomsky 1995b), which always involves overt movement of DPs and derives multiple specifiers, I argue that MFC also takes place at LF, which involves covert movement of FFs and derives multiple adjuncts of feature bundles onto a head. Given the evidence against overt movement of the subject and object in Japanese and Korean, I argue that PR in these languages is best analyzed in terms of covert MFC. I also provide an overt MFC analysis for Kinyarwanda and Swahili PR. Lastly, I discuss the relational noun restriction on PR, which holds of all PR languages. I propose that this restriction is reducible to the structural position of the possessor of a relational noun, namely its position as complement to the noun.