(A) Case for labeling: labeling in languages without ɸ-feature agreement
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Mamoru Saito
Abstract
This paper explores the labeling mechanism in Japanese and other languages that lack φ-feature agreement. It is proposed in Chomsky (2013) that φ-feature sharing between the subject and T makes the labeling of finite clauses possible. It has also been assumed that Case is required for and valued through φ-feature agreement. (See, for example, Chomsky 2008.) These raise fundamental questions about the syntax of languages without φ-feature agreement.Adopting Bošković’s (2007) proposal to divorce Case valuation from φ-feature agreement, I argue that suffixal Case and predicate inflection make phrases opaque for search, and serve to aid labeling in Japanese. The hypothesis provides explanations for the outstanding syntactic properties of the language, such as multiple subject sentences, semantically vacuous scrambling, compound verbs with specific constraints, and argument ellipsis. The analysis of argument ellipsis is based on Richards’ (2003) hypothesis that elided constituents count as heads in computation. In Section 5, I extend the analysis to other phenomena, including N’-ellipsis in Japanese and object ellipsis in Chinese. I also consider the labeling of finite clauses in Malayalam, which has neither subject agreement nor suffixal nominative Case. I suggest that Case valuation, instead of φ-feature agreement, creates the configuration of feature sharing for labeling.
Funding statement: Funding: The research reported here was supported in part by a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (#25370445, 2013–2015) and a Nanzan University Pache Research Subsidy I-A-2 (2015).
Acknowledgements
This is an extended version of Saito (2014a). The new material was presented in seminars at Keio University, the University of Southern California and the University of Connecticut, and also at Cambridge Comparative Syntax 4: Rethinking Comparative Syntax, held on May 7–9, 2015. I have benefitted from discussions with many people, especially Željko Bošković, Hisa Kitahara, Audrey Li, Luigi Rizzi and Daiko Takahashi. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for comments that led to improvement at various places. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Yoshiyuki Shibata.
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©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- In Memoriam of Yoshiyuki Shibata
- Introduction
- On the timing of labeling: Deducing Comp-trace effects, the Subject Condition, the Adjunct Condition, and tucking in from labeling
- Head-head relations in Problems of projection
- Phase cancellation by external pair-merge of heads
- Labeling, maximality and the head – phrase distinction
- (A) Case for labeling: labeling in languages without ɸ-feature agreement
- Labeling through Spell-Out
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- In Memoriam of Yoshiyuki Shibata
- Introduction
- On the timing of labeling: Deducing Comp-trace effects, the Subject Condition, the Adjunct Condition, and tucking in from labeling
- Head-head relations in Problems of projection
- Phase cancellation by external pair-merge of heads
- Labeling, maximality and the head – phrase distinction
- (A) Case for labeling: labeling in languages without ɸ-feature agreement
- Labeling through Spell-Out
