Chapter 8
Another argument for the differences among
wa-marked phrases
The aim of this paper is to argue that the focal
stress and structural position determine the interpretation of
wa-marked phrases in a Japanese sentence.
Namely, our argument is, based on, and extended out of Nakamura
(2017: 356–359), that in sentence initial position,
wa-marked phrases denote Thematic Topic
(tt) or Contrastive Topic (ct). Besides, our
claim is that within vP domain, focally-stressed
wa-marked phrase, denoted here as
wa-marked phrase, signals Contrastive Focus (cf).
In (1a),
wa-marked phrase denotes exhaustivity. On the other
hand, wa-marked phrase in (1b), which occurs below the VP
adverb majimeni (=seriously), signals contrast.
(1)
a.
ano-ronbun-wa
that paper-ei Focus
‘Not, but Taro read that
paper, and he read nothing more.’
b.
hon-4-satu-wa
book-4-cl-cf
‘Taro seriously read the
four books (, opposed to four papers).
Through the examples of the scopal interactions
between negation, verbs and focus particles and wa-marked
phrases, we demonstrate that the wa-marked phrase in
vP domain denotes contrastive focus
(cf). We go on to propose the following elaborated left
peripheries for both CP and vP territories.
(2)
a.
[TopP
[FocP [TopP [TP [
vP [VP ….]]]]]:
CP periphery
b.
[TopP
[FocP [TopP [
vP [VP ….]]]]:
vP periphery
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Previous analyses on the Japanese particle wa
- 3.Japanese data
- 3.1Types of adverbs and their structural positions
- 3.2
wa-marked phrases and their structural
positions
- 3.3Scopal interactions between negation and wa-marked
phrases
- 3.4Scopal interactions between verbs and wa-marked
phrases
- 3.5Scopal interactions between focus particle and wa-marked
phrases
- 3.6Scopal interactions between DPs in DOC
- 4.Hungarian and German data
- 4.1Hungarian data
- 4.2German data
- 5.Elaborated left periphery in both CP and vP domains
- 6.Conclusion, apparent problems, and theoretical
implications
-
Acknowledgements
-
Note
-
References