SYNTACTIC STATUS OF IDIOMATIC SUBJECTS IN JAPANESE

要旨

Kishimoto (2009) argues that in Japanese, subjects undergo overt subject raising to TP, which is motivated by the specifier requirement of TP—i.e. the EEP requirement. At the same time, it is observed in Kishimoto that idioms constitute one class of exceptions to the generalization on subject raising: that is, idiomatic arguments that can be construed as subjects do not undergo raising to TP. This is a general pattern of subject idioms in Japanese, since we can find plenty of idioms possessing this property, such as keti-ga tuku (meannessNom attach) ‘criticize’ and me-ga muku (eye-Nom turn) ‘attract attention’.

主題