Wa/Ga-Subjects in Japanese and Subdivisions of Tense

<p>WA/GA-SUBJECTS IN JAPANESE AND SUBDIVISIONS OF TENSE Shizuka Torii This thesis takes a semantically based tense/aspect approach to the long-standing problem of wa- and ga-markings of 'subjects' in Japanese. It argues for a correlation between wa/ga-markings of 'subjects' and tense/aspect interpretations of clauses, as illustrated in (1) below, to shed light on a new dimension of the problem. (1) a. John-waki-ta. John come-Past 'John came.' b. John-ga ki-ta. John come-Past 'John has just come/arrived.' <'hot news' perfect> The two types of tense/aspect interpretations correlated with wa- and ga-marked subjects are pinned down in terms of (i) two types of 'evaluation time', which are distinguished as 'original' and 'new' (Enc 1987), (ii) two types of R[eference time] (Reichenbach 1947); one that coincides with S[peech time] but not with E[vent time] (R = S/ inequation E), and the other that coincides with E but not with S (R = E/ inequation S), and (iii) two types of 'viewpoint aspect' (Smith 1991); one that presents 'part' of a situation manifested at a precise temporal point (View part) and the other that presents 'all' of a situation without decomposing it (View all). In order to provide syntactic mechanisms to account for the correlation between wa/ga-markings of 'subjects' and the two distinct types of tense/aspect interpretations, I propose two subdivisions of Tense in line with Chomsky's (1995: 240) suggestion that Tense might have "further subdivisions and implications about event structure and perhaps other properties". I assume that the two subdivisions of Tense are functional categories making up an articulated tense structure (above VP) and contain distinct semantic features responsible for the distinct tense/aspect interpretations correlated with wa- and ga-markings of subjects in Japanese. Being tense categories, they both have T[ense]-features and D[eterminer]-features to be checked by predicates and subject DPs respectively. Due to the distinct semantic content of the two syntactic categories, depending on which T- and D-features predicates and subjects check, we get two distinct types of tense/aspect interpretations of predicates and two distinct types of subjects (which are morphologically distinguished by wa- and ga-markings in Japanese). In this analysis, the T- and D-features of a tense category ensure that a subject and a predicate are necessarily of the same semantic type. The tense system I propose to account for the wa/ga-phenomena unifies tense and aspect to the extent that the wa/ga-phenomena relate to the interpretation of both tense and aspect. A notable consequence of my analysis is that the syntax and semantics of stage- and individual-level predicates (cf. Carlson 1977, Kratzer 1989 and Diesing 1992) fall under the syntax and semantics of tense. The analysis also exhibits some interesting parallelisms to Davis' (1998), in which person features of subjects are related to a temporal structure. In addition the proposed two subject positions within the articulated tense structure are demonstrated to be tenable across languages. Furthermore I show that the reanalysis is extendable to subordinate clause case markings and interpretations, with special attention to factors such as factivity and the distinctions among propositions, states of affairs, and situation-types.</p>

Wa/Ga-Subjects in Japanese and Subdivisions of Tense

<p>WA/GA-SUBJECTS IN JAPANESE AND SUBDIVISIONS OF TENSE Shizuka Torii This thesis takes a semantically based tense/aspect approach to the long-standing problem of wa- and ga-markings of 'subjects' in Japanese. It argues for a correlation between wa/ga-markings of 'subjects' and tense/aspect interpretations of clauses, as illustrated in (1) below, to shed light on a new dimension of the problem. (1) a. John-waki-ta. John come-Past 'John came.' b. John-ga ki-ta. John come-Past 'John has just come/arrived.' <'hot news' perfect> The two types of tense/aspect interpretations correlated with wa- and ga-marked subjects are pinned down in terms of (i) two types of 'evaluation time', which are distinguished as 'original' and 'new' (Enc 1987), (ii) two types of R[eference time] (Reichenbach 1947); one that coincides with S[peech time] but not with E[vent time] (R = S/ inequation E), and the other that coincides with E but not with S (R = E/ inequation S), and (iii) two types of 'viewpoint aspect' (Smith 1991); one that presents 'part' of a situation manifested at a precise temporal point (View part) and the other that presents 'all' of a situation without decomposing it (View all). In order to provide syntactic mechanisms to account for the correlation between wa/ga-markings of 'subjects' and the two distinct types of tense/aspect interpretations, I propose two subdivisions of Tense in line with Chomsky's (1995: 240) suggestion that Tense might have "further subdivisions and implications about event structure and perhaps other properties". I assume that the two subdivisions of Tense are functional categories making up an articulated tense structure (above VP) and contain distinct semantic features responsible for the distinct tense/aspect interpretations correlated with wa- and ga-markings of subjects in Japanese. Being tense categories, they both have T[ense]-features and D[eterminer]-features to be checked by predicates and subject DPs respectively. Due to the distinct semantic content of the two syntactic categories, depending on which T- and D-features predicates and subjects check, we get two distinct types of tense/aspect interpretations of predicates and two distinct types of subjects (which are morphologically distinguished by wa- and ga-markings in Japanese). In this analysis, the T- and D-features of a tense category ensure that a subject and a predicate are necessarily of the same semantic type. The tense system I propose to account for the wa/ga-phenomena unifies tense and aspect to the extent that the wa/ga-phenomena relate to the interpretation of both tense and aspect. A notable consequence of my analysis is that the syntax and semantics of stage- and individual-level predicates (cf. Carlson 1977, Kratzer 1989 and Diesing 1992) fall under the syntax and semantics of tense. The analysis also exhibits some interesting parallelisms to Davis' (1998), in which person features of subjects are related to a temporal structure. In addition the proposed two subject positions within the articulated tense structure are demonstrated to be tenable across languages. Furthermore I show that the reanalysis is extendable to subordinate clause case markings and interpretations, with special attention to factors such as factivity and the distinctions among propositions, states of affairs, and situation-types.</p>

Nonpassive Verbal Periphrases in the Romance Languages

Verbal periphrases combine two verbal forms that share their arguments. One of the forms, [V2], lexically determines most of the argument structure of the whole construction, whereas the other, [V1], contributes the sort of abstract meaning usually associated with functional categories in the realms of tense, aspect, and modality and is often classified as a (semi-)auxiliary. In most cases, [V2] appears in a fixed nonfinite form (infinitive, gerund, or participle), whereas the inflection on [V1] is variable; the periphrastic pattern may also include a preposition introducing the nonfinite form. Research on verbal periphrases has concentrated on the differences between periphrastic patterns and free patterns of complementation or adjunction involving nonfinite clauses, on the syntactic analysis of those patterns, and on their semantic classification. The renewed interest in the field in recent years has two sources. On the one hand, research on grammaticalization has emphasized the importance of periphrases for our understanding of the way in which exponents for grammatical meanings emerge diachronically from lexical constructions. On the other hand, work in generative syntax (in the so-called cartographic approach) has taken periphrases as evidence for the postulated existence of highly articulated functional layers above a core verb phrase headed by a lexical verb. The bulk of nonpassive verbal periphrases either modify Aktionsart or express viewpoint aspect or relative tense. Research has revealed considerable differences in their inventory and in the status of cognate periphrases across Romance, as well as some parallel or convergent developments.

Expanding the Definition of Aspect in L2 Acquisition: Assessing Advanced Levels of Competence to Understand Aspectual Knowledge

In part due to the significant influence of Andersen's Lexical Aspect Hypothesis, research on the L2 acquisition of tense and aspect has focused primarily on the construct of aspect representative of the beginning and intermediate stages of acquisition. In the present article, I review the significance of two recent developments in the study of aspectual knowledge: the expansive view of recent research proposals (e.g., shifted effect of lexical aspect toward intermediate and advanced stages), and the focus on specific sub-constructs that provide a more precise target to assess ultimate attainment (e.g., iterativity versus habituality). I argue that the relevance of advanced stages of development of aspect is central to the analysis of L2 aspectual knowledge. To that effect, the objective of future studies needs to incorporate the explicit description of the connection between lexical aspect and viewpoint aspect

What makes up a reportable event in a language? Motion events as an important test domain in linguistic typology

Numerous crosslinguistic studies on motion events have been carried out in investigating the scope of the two-fold typology “path versus manner” (Talmy 1985, 2000) and its possible implications. This typological contrast is too narrow as it stands, however, to account for the diversity found both within and across types. The present study is based on what can be termed a process-oriented perspective. It includes the analyses of all relevant conceptual domains notably the domain of temporality, in addition to space, and thus goes beyond previous studies. The languages studied differ typologically as follows: path is typically expressed in the verb in French and Tunisian Arabic in contrast to manner of motion in English and German, while in the temporal domain aspect is expressed grammatically in English and Tunisian Arabic but not in German and French. The study compares the representations which speakers construct when forming a reportable event as a response to video clips showing a series of naturalistic scenes in which an entity moves through space. The analysis includes the following conceptual categories: (1) the privileged event layer (manner vs. path) which drives the selection of breakpoints in the formation of event units when processing the visual input; (2) the privileged category in spatial framing (figure-based/ground-based) and (3) viewpoint aspect (phasal decomposition or not). We assume that each of these three cognitive categories is shaped specifically by language structure (both system and repertoire) and language use (frequency of constructions). The findings reveal systematic differences both across, as well as within, typologically related languages with respect to (1) the basic event type encoded, (2) the changes in quality expressed, (3) the total number of path segments encoded per situation, and (4) the number of path segments packaged into one utterance. The findings reveal what can be termed language-specific default settings along each of the conceptual dimensions and their interrelations which function as language specific attentional templates.

Actionality, Aspect, Tense, and Counterfactuality in Kuban Kabardian

This paper presents the fieldwork data on the interaction of actionality, aspect, and tense in counterfactual conditional clauses of the Kuban dialect of Kabardian, a polysynthetic Northwest Caucasian language. Kabardian shows non-trivial similarities to Romance languages in its use of the Imperfective Past suffix as a marker of counterfactuality — alone or as a part of the complex marker of the Pluperfect marker where the Imperfect attaches to the Preterite (perfective past). I show that the choice between several types of marking in counterfactual protases (the plain Imperfect, the Pluperfect, and the simple Preterite) primarily depends on actional class and viewpoint aspect: perfective counterfactuals employ either the Pluperfect or the Preterite, while imperfective counterfactuals require the Imperfect, which is in line with the more general distribution of these tense-aspect forms. Theoretical implications of the tense-aspect marking in Kuban Kabardian counterfactual conditionals are also briefly discussed.

Examining the effectiveness of language-switching practice for reducing cross-language competition in L2 grammatical processing

This study examined the extent to which language-switching practice enhanced L2 learners’ L2 grammatical processing by improving language selection abilities. Thirty-six English-speaking learners of French completed the same language-switching practice of L1 and L2 sentences, but received different types of pre-practice explicit information (EI) designed to address L2 learning difficulties resulting from crosslinguistic influence: one group (n = 17) received EI about English–French differences for viewpoint aspect, and a second group (n = 19) received EI about viewpoint aspect in French only. This design investigated the extent to which pre-practice linguistic knowledge moderated the effectiveness of the language-switching practice. Longitudinal analyses showed that increasing amounts of practice improved language selection abilities (increased accuracy, reduced reaction time costs), but only for learners who received EI about L1-L2 differences. These findings that language-switching was moderated by type of pre-practice EI have important implications for theories of L2 learning and instruction.

Examining the effectiveness of language-switching practice for reducing cross-language competition in L2 grammatical processing

This study examined the extent to which language-switching practice enhanced L2 learners’ L2 grammatical processing by improving language selection abilities. Thirty-six English-speaking learners of French completed the same language-switching practice of L1 and L2 sentences, but received different types of pre-practice explicit information (EI) designed to address L2 learning difficulties resulting from crosslinguistic influence: one group (n = 17) received EI about English-French differences for viewpoint aspect, and a second group (n = 19) received EI about viewpoint aspect in French only. This design investigated the extent to which pre-practice linguistic knowledge moderated the effectiveness of the language-switching practice. Longitudinal analyses showed that increasing amounts of practice improved language selection abilities (increased accuracy, reduced reaction time costs), but only for learners who received EI about L1-L2 differences. These findings that language-switching was moderated by type of pre-practice EI have important implications for theories of L2 learning and instruction