Logical Structure and Case Marking in Japanese

Publisher: State University of New York
Publication date: 1998
Number of pages: 85Logical structures and case marking systems in Japanese are investigated in the framework of Role and Reference Grammar. Chapter one summarizes theoretical backgrounds. In chapter two, transitive, ditransitive, inversion, possessor-raising, causative, direct passive, and indirect passive constructions are
discussed. In chapter three, syntactic behaviors such as so-called ‘subject’-honorific predicates, a reflexive zibun, and gaps of nagara- ‘while’ clauses are investigated.
Based on the observations of those structures and syntactic behaviors, it is concluded that case marking systems in Japanese are accounted for by referring to logical structures and the notion of ‘pragmatic peak’.