Abstract
This paper argues for the presence of an agreeing functional head in Japanese, on the basis of an ellipsis phenomenon called Sluicing. It is argued that the existence of Sluicing, together with the functional head licensing approach to ellipses, implies that an agreeing Comp exists in Japanese and that the presence of what I call multiple Sluicing evidence one-to-one Spec-Head agreement in the language. This study has implications for the theory of economy, the comparative syntax of English and Japanese, and the issues concerning functional categories and syntacticwh-movement in Japanese.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abney, Steven (1987)The English Noun Phrase in Its Sentential Aspects, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Baltin, Mark (1982) “A Landing Site Theory of Movement Rules,”Linguistic Inquiry 13, 1–38.
Chomsky, Noam (1973) “Conditions on Transformations,” in S. R. Anderson and P. Kiparsky (eds.),A Festschrift for Morris Halle, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, pp. 232–286.
Chomsky, Noam (1981)Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris, Dordrecht.
Chomsky, Noam (1986a)Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use, Praeger, New York.
Chomsky, Noam (1986b)Barriers, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Chomsky, Noam (1991) “Some Notes on Economy of Derivation and Representation,” in R. Freidin (ed.),Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar, MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 417–454.
Chomsky, Noam (1992)A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory, MIT Occasional Papers in Linguistic 1, MIT.
Chomsky, Noam and Howard Lasnik (1991) “Principles and Parameters Theory,” to appear in J. Jacobs, A. van Stechow, W. Sternefeld, and T. Venneman (eds.),Syntax: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, De Gruyter, Berlin.
Fukui, Naoki (1986)A Theory of Category Projection and Its Applications, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Fukui, Naoki (1993a) “Parameters and Optionality,”Linguistic Inquiry 24, 399–420.
Fukui, Naoki (1993b) “A Note on Improper Movement,”The Linguistic Review 10, 111–126.
Fukui, Naoki and Margaret Speas (1987) “Specifiers and Projections,”MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 8, 128–171.
Hankamer, Jorge and Ivan Sag (1976) “Deep and Surface Anaphora,”Linguistic Inquiry 7, 391–426.
Hoji, Hajime (1986)Logical Form Constraints and Configurational Structure in Japanese, PhD dissertation, University of Washington.
Hoji, Hajime (1990) “Theories of Anaphora and Aspects of Japanese Syntax,” ms., University of Southern California.
Huang, C.-T. James (1982)Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Inoue, Kazuko (1976)Nihongo-no Bunpoo Kisoku [Grammatical Rules in Japanese], Taisyuukan, Tokyo.
Jackendoff, Ray (1971) “Gapping and Related Rules,”Linguistic Inquiry 2, 21–36.
Kuroda, S.-Y. (1965)Generative Grammatical Studies in the Japanese Language, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Kuroda, S.-Y. (1988) “Whether We Agree or Not: A Comparative Syntax of English and Japanese,”Papers from the Second International Workshop on Japanese Syntax, CSLI, Stanford University, pp. 103–143.
Lasnik, Howard (1993) “Lectures on Minimalist Syntax,” UConn Occasional Papers in Linguistics 1, University of Connecticut.
Lasnik, Howard and Mamoru Saito (1984) “On the Nature of Proper Government,”Linguistic Inquiry 15, 235–289.
Lasnik, Howard and Mamoru Saito (1992)Move-a, MIT Press, Cambridge
Levin, Lori S. (1982) “Sluicing: A Lexical Interpretive Procedure,” in J. Bresnan (ed.),The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relation, MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 590–654.
Lobeck, Anne (1990) “Functional Heads as Proper Governors,”Proceedings of the 20th Meeting of North Eastern Linguistics Society, 348–362.
Mahajan, Anoop (1990)The A/A′-Distinction and Movement Theory, PhD dissertation, MIT.
May, Robert (1979) “Must COMP-to-COMP Movement be Stipulated?”Linguistic Inquiry 10, 719–725.
May, Robert (1985)Logical Form, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Nishigauchi, Taisuke (1990)Quantification in the Theory of Grammar, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Pesetsky, David (1982)Paths and Categories, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Ross, John Robert (1967)Constraints on Variables in Syntax, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Ross, John Robert (1969) “Guess Who?”Proceedings from the 5th Meeting of Chicago Linguistics Society, 252–286.
Sag, Ivan (1976)Deletion and Logical Form, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Saito, Mamoru (1989) “Scrambling as Semantically Vacuous A′-Movement,” in M. Baltin and A. Kroch (eds.),Alternative Conceptions of Phrase Structure, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 182–200.
Saito, Mamoru (1992) “Additional-Wh Effects and the Adjunction Site Theory,” ms., University of Connecticut.
Saito, Mamoru and Keiko Murasugi (1990) “N′-Deletion in Japanese,”UConn working Papers in Linguistics 3, 87–107.
Takahashi, Daiko (1992) “Improper Movements and Chain Formation,” ms., University of Connecticut.
Takahashi, Daiko (1993a) “Movement of Wh-Phrases in Japanese,”Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 11, 655–678.
Takahashi, Daiko (1993b) “On Antecedent-Contained Deletion,” ms., University of Connecticut.
Watanabe, Akira (1992) “Subjacency and S-Structure Movement of Wh-in-Situ,”Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1, 255–291.
Williams, Edwin (1977) “Discourse and Logical Form,”Linguistic Inquiry 8, 101–139.
Zagona, Karen (1982)Government and Proper Government of Verbal Projections, PhD dissertation, University of Washington.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
I would like to thank Yuki Kuroda, Howard Lasnik, Diane Lillo-Martin, David Michaels, Mamom Saito, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions. Needless to say, all the remaining inadequacies are my own.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Takahashi, D. Sluicing in Japanese. J East Asian Linguis 3, 265–300 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01733066
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01733066