In the current Government and Binding framework, every sentence must have a subject. When the matrix subject position is non-thematic, it is filled by an expletive. Japanese, however, lacks an overt expletive. This raises the question of whether the language has an expletive which is null, or raises an embedded subject to the matrix subject…

This paper reconsiders Chomsky's Adjunction Condition and suggests some modification of the theory of barriers to solve problems arising mainly from the improper definition of the blocking category and the barrier. It is argued that in S-structure, there is no adjunction in movement except extraposition and topicalization. First, it is suggested…

This paper presents an alternative analysis of tough constructions for N. Chomsky's 1981 wh-movement analysis of tough constructions. To replace Chomsky's solution and to obviate the need for generalized transformations in Government-Binding (GB) theory, an alternative analysis is proposed in which the tough subject originates as an embedded…

Recent work in language and text has explored such broad functional categories as evidentiality and affect, and has examined their cross-linguistic occurrences and manifestations. This paper focuses on a single construction, explores its variations, and describes and explains its pragmatic and textual functions. This rare construction, exemplified…

This paper examines the precise correlation between A-bar dependency and the notion of referentiality in Korean. Referentiality is initially defined by the lexical content that only noun phases inherently carry. It is demonstrated that the specification of phi-features renders arguments referential and adjuncts non-referential. This definition is…

A sentence such as "I am going to find the store" may be reduced to "I[ma]find the store." This reduction consists of a reduction of the auxiliary, changing "I am" to "I'm," and an adjunction of infinitival "to" onto "going" to derive "gonna." From there, "gonna" is…

This paper investigates the status of the null object in Mandarin Chinese. It proposes that if an object is topicalized, the empty category in the object position should be analyzed as a variable. If it is not topicalized, it is a "pro." It is argued that a pro resembles an overt pronoun in obeying Condition B, but differs from the…

Kutenai has an obviation system reminiscent of the systems found in Algonquian languages, in which at most one third person nominal in a clause is proximate and others are obviate. Although the behavior of proximate nominals within clauses and within texts reflects a special status for proximates as having some sort of "higher rank" than…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the existence of nonsubject binding of the so-called long distance anaphor in languages like Korean and Japanese and to give a principled account of why and when it happens. The Korean reflexive pronoun "caki" ('self') is bound by local and long-distance antecedents. Nonsubject binding occurs…

A study of verb agreement and clause structure in Karaja, a Brazilian indigenous language of Macro-Je stock, discusses the subject and object agreement systems with relation to the Feature Specification Constraint. Implementation of the SOV order in Karaja is then analyzed and evidence is presented for the existence of a single functional phrase…