Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
On the Distributive and Non-Distributive Interpretation in Japanese
College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan
- 1 College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan
Open Journal of Modern Linguistics·Volume 04 (2014)·Pages 527–536·Published 30 September 2014·DOI10.4236/ojml.2014.44046
Copy link · social · email
Abstract
Through an analysis of two different types of floating numeral quantifier (FNQ) constructions in Japanese, the present paper investigates the distributive and non-distributive interpretation in Japanese. Discussion of the interpretative issues related to ambiguity and intonation has indicated that FNQs are potentially ambiguous, offering both distributive and non-distributive readings.
KeywordsDistributiveNon-DistributiveFloating Numeral QuantifierJapanese
- Dalrymple, M., &Nikolaeva, I. (2010). Objects and Information Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Deguchi, M., & Kitagawa Y. (2002). Prosody and Wh-Questions. In M. Hirotani (Ed.), Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society (pp. 73-92).
- Féry, C., & Ishihara, S. (2009). How Focus and Givenness Shape Prosody. In M. Zimmermann, & C. Féry (Eds.), Information Structure (pp. 36-63). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Fodor, J. D. (1995). Comprehending Sentence Structure. In D. N. Osherson, L. R. Gleitman, & M. Liberman (Eds.), An Invitation to Cognitive Science—Language (Vol. 1, pp. 209-246). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Giannakidou, A., & Cheng, L. L.-S. (2006). (In) definiteness, Polarity, and the Role of Wh-Morphology in Free Choice. Journal of Semantics, 23, 135-183. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffl001
- Ishihara, S. (2011). Japanese Focus Revisited: Freeing Focus From Prosodic Phrasing. Lingua, 121, 1870-1889. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2011.06.008
- Ishii, Y. (1998). Floating Quantifiers in Japanese: NP-Quantifiers, VP-Quantifiers, or Both? Researching and Verifying an Advanced Theory of Human Language, 2, 149-171.
- Ishii, Y. (1999). A Note on Floating Quantifiers in Japanese. In M. Muraki, & E. Iwamoto (Eds.), Linguistics: In Search of the Human Mind—A Festschrift for Kazuko Inoue (pp. 236-267). Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
- Jackendoff, R. (1972). Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Kadmon, N. (2001). Formal Pragmatics: Semantics, Pragmatics, Presupposition and Focus. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Kiaer, J. (2005). Incremental Parsing in Korean: At the Syntax-Phonology Interface. Master’s Thesis, London: King’s College.
- Kitagawa, Y., & Fodor, J. D. (2006). Prosodic Influence on Syntactic Judgments. In G. Fanslow, C. Féry, R. Vogel, & M. Schlesewsky (Eds.), Gradience in Grammar (pp. 336-358). Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274796.003.0017
- Kitagawa, Y., & Kuroda, S. (1992). Passives in Japanese. Master’s Thesis, San Diego, CA: University of Rochester and University of California.
- Kobuchi, P. M. (2003). Distributivity and the Japanese Floating Quantifier. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: City University of New York.
- Kobuchi, P. M. (2007). Floating Numerals and Floating Quantifiers. Lingua, 117, 814-831. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2006.03.008