1. Ling200 Prof. Toshi Ogihara Spring 2006
Syntax of Japanese
Ling200
Prof. Toshi Ogihara
Spring 2006

2. Japanese (today’s plan)
SOV language (but word-order is free other than the V)
Topic constructions
So-called adversative passives
Long distance reflexives
No wh-movement (on a par with Chinese)
NPs are often omitted unlike English.

3. English word order is generally characterized as
SVO
SOV
VSO
VOS
OSV
OVS

4. An example of case marking in English would be
he vs. him
he vs. she
do vs. does
fill vs. full
child vs. children

5. Postpositions
are like prepositions except the object precedes rather than follows
are rarely used in English
are only used in the passive construction in English
were barely mentioned in Ch. 4

6. English word order
English is an SVO language, and the word order is very rigid. Case marking is visible only on pronouns.
he/she: nominative (subject) him/her: objective
He saw her. But you still cannot say: Her saw he.
Without pronouns, case is “invisible”. NP positions give you information about their roles.
John saw Mary. Mary saw John
John gave Mary Fido.

7. Japanese word order John-ga Bill-ni hon-o age-ta.
NOM DAT book-ACC give PAST
Bill-ni John-ga hon-o age-ta.
John-ga hon-o Bill-ni age-ta.
Hon-o John-ga Bill-ni age-ta.
(?) Hon-o Bill-ni John-ga age-ta.
‘John gave Bill a/the book(s).’
Almost all orderings are possible as long as the sentence ends with a verb. Case endings tell you exactly what “roles” the NPs play.

8. English has no topic marker
English has no particle that indicates the topic of a sentence. The closest you can find in English would be expressions like “speaking of …” and “ as for …” Note that such phrases are not required by the verb.
Speaking of great movies, the other day I watched Citizen Kane.
As for spectator sports, I loved baseball.

9. Japanese has a topic marker
-wa: topic marker; -ga: nominative case marker
(1) John-ga hasit-te iru.
(2) John-wa hasit-te iru.
John run-PROG-PRES
‘John is running’
What is the difference between (1) and (2)?
simply describes what is going on.
presents John as the theme/topic, and goes on to talk about what he is doing now.

10. In many cases, -wa replaces a case marker (or a postposition).
(3) Pizza-o John-ga tabe-ta.
(4) Pizza-wa John-ga tabe-ta.
pizza John-NOM eat-PAST
‘John ate pizza.’
-o: accusative case (direct object ) marker
(5) Chicago-ni John-ga it-ta.
(6) Chicago-wa John-ga it-ta.
Chicago John-NOM eat-PAST
‘John went to Chicago.’
-ni: dative case marker/postposition ‘to’

11. In some cases, -wa is suffixed after a postposition
(7) Chicago-ni John-ga it-ta.
(8) Chicago -ni-wa John-ga it-ta.
Chicago John-NOM eat-PAST
‘John went to Chicago.’
-ni: dative case (indidrect object) marker or postposition ‘to’
(9) Chicago-de John-ga pizza-o tabe-ta.
(10) Chicago-de-wa John-ga pizza-o tabe-ta.
Chicago John-NOM pizza-ACC eat PAST
‘John ate pizza in New York.’
-de: postposition ‘at/in’

12. In other cases, -wa comes from nowhere
(like speaking of or as for)
(11) Sakana-wa tai-ga ii.
fish TOP red sea bream-NOM good.
‘As for fish, red sea bream is good.’
(12) Are-wa Nixon-ga warui.
that-TOP Nixon-NOM bad.
‘As for that (problem), Nixon is to blame.’
Both ii ‘good’ and warui ‘bad’ are adjectives and only require a subject NP to form a sentence.
(13) tenki-ga ii/warui. ‘The weather is good/bad.’
weather-NOM good/bad

13. Which is the best example of an active and passive pair of sentences in English?
John was sad. John was saddened.
The news saddened John. John was saddened.
John was studied. John’s dad was studied.
John has studied. John was studied.

14. English passives
In English passives, the “new subject” can only come from an object NP in an active sentence.
John hit Bill -> Bill was hit (by John)
John gave Mary flowers ->
Mary was given flowers (by John).
Flowers were given to Mary (by John).
John studied math at UW. ->
*UW was studied math at (by John).

15. Japanese passives
Sometimes, Japanese passives resemble their English counterparts.
John-ga Bill-o nagut-ta. ‘John hit Bill.’ ->
NOM ACC hit PAST
Bill-ga John-ni nagu-rare -ta.
NOM DAT hit PASS PAST
‘Bill was hit by John.’
PASS: passive morpheme (-rare)
An object NP becomes a new subject.
The old subject is now a -ni marked
(dative-case-marked) NP.

16. In some cases, the “new subject” does not come from an object NP.
ame-ga fut-ta. ‘It rained.’ ->
Rain-NOM fall-PAST
John-ga/wa ame-ni fu-rare-ta.
rain-DAT fall-PASS-PAST
‘John got rained on.’
John-ga sin -da. ‘John died’ ->
NOM die-PAST
Mary-ga John-ni sin-are -ta.
NOM DAT die PASS PAST
‘Mary suffered from John’s death’

17. Adversative Passives
Since such passive sentences are used when the subject of the passive sentence suffers from what happened, this type of passive sentence is often referred to as an adversative passive.

18. An example of a sentence which contains a reflexive pronoun in English is
John saw him
John saw himself
John saw his mother
Julia saw her

19. Long-distance Reflexives
English reflexives MUST be related to another expression (called antecedent) within the minimal sentence.
(1) John likes himself.
(2) *John said that [Mary likes himself].
(3) * John thinks that [himself is the greatest].
Japanese reflexives can be related to an expression that is outside the minimal sentence.
(4) John-wa [Zibun-ga itiban sugoi]-to omot-te iru.
John-TOP self-NOM most great that think PROG PRES
‘John thinks that he is the greatest.’

20. Sometimes, an ambiguous English sentence can be paraphrased in two different ways in Japanese.
(5) Every boy thinks that he is the greatest.
(6) Syoonen-tati-wa mina [zibun-ga itiban sugoi] to
boy s TOP all self-NOM most great that
omot-tei -ru.
think PROG PRES
‘Every boy x thinks that x (he himself) is the greatest’
(So they do not agree as to who is the greatest.)
(7) Syoonen-tati-wa mina kare-ga itiban sugoi to
boy s TOP all he -NOM most great that
‘Every boy x thinks that some particular boy is the
greatest’ (So they agree as to who is the greatest.)

21. No wh-movement in Japanese
Just like Chinese, Japanese has no wh-movement.
Mary-wa nani -o kat-ta no?
Mary-TOP what-ACC buy-PAST Question marker
‘What did Mary buy?’
(2) John-wa doko-e it -ta no?
John-TOP where-to go-PAST Q
‘Where did John go?’

22. NPs are often omitted Unlike English, Japanese often drop NPs.
A: tabe-ta? B: Tabe-ta.
eat PAST eat PAST
‘Did (you) eat (lunch)?’ ‘(Yes, I) did.’
(2) Suki-desu.
like PRES
‘(I) like/love (you).’

23. Glossary of Abbreviations
NOM = Nominative Case (-ga)
DAT = Dative Case (-ni)
ACC = Accusative Case (-o)
PAST = Past Tense (-ta)
PRES = Present Tense (-u)
PROG = Progressive Form (-te i)
TOP = Topic Marker (-wa)
PASS = Passive Marker (-rare)
Q = Question marker