Japanese

September 9, 2002

Time:
2:00pm, September 9, 2002
Place:
3rd floor conference room, College of Arts and Sciences Building 10, University of Tokyo Komaba campus
Speaker:
David Yoshikazu Oshima (Stanford University)
Title:
Presupposition and Extraction: A Discourse-based Account of the Factive Island Effect
Abstract:
Available here in pdf.
Speaker:
Shinichiro Ishihara (MIT)
Title:
Intonation patterns in Japanese wh-constructions
Abstract:
In this talk, we will explore the special intonation pattern of two
wh-constructions (wh-questions, so-called _mo_-construction) in
Japanese, and its close correlation with the interpretation of the
constructions.

In Japanese wh-constructions, wh-phrases receive prosodic
prominence; and the intonation contour of the phrases following the
wh-phrase is strongly reduced (deaccenting) up to the particle _ka_
or _mo_, which semantically binds the wh-phrase. Japanese exploits
Deaccenting to mark the wh-scope, by indicating the connection
between the wh-phrase and its binder.

A closer investigation of this prosodic property of wh-constructions
reveals that certain apparently syntactic effects are actually
prosodic in origin. For example, phenomena that Takahashi (1993)
took as evidence that apparent wh-scrambling might actually be overt
wh-movement in Japanese now turn out to be prosodic in nature and
not evidence for overt wh-movement at all.

If time permits, I will also present an analysis of how this
correlation between intonation and interpretation is derived. A
version of multiple Spell-Out model along the lines of Chomsky 2000,
2001 provides us with a natural account of this correlation.

Last modified: Wed Jun 4 23:43:23 JST 2003