On the Distribution of the Japanese wa and ga

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On the Distribution of the Japanese wa and ga
University College Utrecht Fall 2002 Linguistics

• Floris van Vugt

Images from the John Raylands Library
http//rylibweb.man.ac.uk
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Scrambling

• Today Yuka(nom) Ginza at sushi(-Acc) ate.
• Kyo Yuka-ga Ginza-de sushi-o tabeta.
• Yuka-ga kyo Ginza-de sushi-o tabeta.
• Kyo sushi-o Yuka-ga Ginza-de tabeta.

• But
• verb-final headedness
• postpositions case particles parameter

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The Problem
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John Austin Speech Act Theory

• That bird is a sparrow
• item predicate

• The direction of fit
• distinguishes that which is given from that
  which is produced (Fiengo 9)

What do you call that bird? Show me an example of
a sparrow.
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Examples
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Conclusion

• Japanese more context-dependent.
• One possible sentence in English, but
• Several possible sentence in Japanese.
• More to be said.

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The End
Thank you for your attention. This
presentation and the paper are available for
downloading at http//vanvugt.cjb.net