Case and Coordination in Japanese

要旨

The Japanese particle to ‘and ’ is generally considered a coordinator of nominals. It is phonologically weak and cliticises onto an immediately preceding element, as illustrated in (1). The examples in (2) show that it indeed cannot coordinate two verbs or adjectives. (1) John-ga [Mary-to Bill]-o mita John-Nom Mary-and Bill-Acc saw ‘John saw Mary and Bill.’ (2) a. *sono inu-ga John-o oikake/oikakete-to kanda that dog-Nom John-Acc chase.INF/chase.GER-and bit ‘That dog chased and bit John.’ b. *John-wa akai-to aoi ringo-o tabeta John-Top red-and blue apple-Acc ate ‘John ate red and green apples. ’ (Koizumi 2000: 275) Interestingly, to can coordinate two conjuncts which do not appear to be syntactic constituents (Koizumi 1995, 2000). In (3), each conjunct consists of an indirect object, a direct object and a quantifier associated with the latter. (CL = classifier). I will refer to such conjuncts as ‘non-constituents’

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