Open AccessEllipsis of case-markers and information structure in Japanese
Author(s) -
Yo Sato,
Wai Lok Tam
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
proceedings of the international conference on head-driven phrase structure grammar
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1535-1793
DOI - 10.21248/hpsg.2012.25
Subject(s) - ellipsis (linguistics) , focus (optics) , nominative case , linguistics , predicate (mathematical logic) , computer science , argument (complex analysis) , verb , information structure , head driven phrase structure grammar , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , philosophy , generative grammar , programming language , biochemistry , physics , chemistry , optics
This paper presents an HPSG formalisation of how the ellipsis of case-marking affects the focus ofthe clause in Japanese. We restrict our attention to the nominative and accusative markers ga and o,and in view of the fact that the ellipsis effects on focushood vary between 1) ga and o and 2)different argument structures of the head verb, develop an essentially lexicalist account thatcombines both aspects, in which the implicit focus argument position is specified in thepredicate. We argue that if a constituent is an implicit focus it does not, while if one is not itdoes, require a case-marker to be focused.