Open Collections

Verbal compounds in Japanese : implications for morphological theory

University of British Columbia

A number of past studies on verbal compounds show the asymmetry between subjects (external arguments) and non-subjects (internal arguments). The same type of asymmetry between subjects and non-subjects has been observed and well-known (though, see Bresnan 1983) in syntax. Several linguists, such as Roeper and Siegel (1978), Selkirk (1982) and Lieber (1983), have proposed an independent principle to account for this asymmetry. In this thesis, an attempt is made to show such a principle is unnecessary. Moreover, it is argued that the existing syntactic principle can be extended to cover the domain of morphology. Once the above proposal is shown to be a desirable and plausible move, then other aspects of morphology, namely, a theory of percolation, can be reduced to bare minimal - 'Percolate freely'. The problematic case of [ V-V ][sub v] compounds in the previous theories is resolved, again, by adopting the proposal made for syntactic co-ordinate structure three-dimensional representation.

Text

2010-07-17

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26577

Linguistics

University of British Columbia

Graduate