CONTROLLING JAPANESE EXPERIENCER*
Tomohiro Fujii
Nanzan University

1.

Evidentiality and the Distribution of OC PRO

1.1. Introduction
This paper examines the syntax of the subject of a certain class of adjectives in Japanese.
Let us start with examples (1a-c), which involve the nominative-object taking adjective
nikurasi-i ‘hate’:(1)a.

{watasi/ *kimi/ *Hiroshi}-wa Mari-ga nikurasi -i -naa
I
you Hiroshi-Top Mari-Nom hate-Prs-SFP‘{I hate/*You hate/*Hiroshi hates} Mari.’b.

Hiroshii-wa [∆i Mari-ga
nikurasi -i -to] {omotta/ kanzita}
Hiroshi-Top
Mari-Nom hate-Prs-C thought felt
‘Hiroshii {thought/felt} that hei hated Mari.’c.

Hiroshii-wa [∆i Mari-onikurasi -i -to] {omotta/ kanzita}
Hiroshi-Top
Mari-Acc hate-Prs-C thought felt(1a) shows that nikurasi-i must take a first person subject when it occurs in a declarative root
clause. (1b-c) are examples obtained by embedding kanasi-i in a sentential complement.
Whereas the object of the adjective cannot be in the accusative case in root clauses, as in*watasi-wa Mari-o nikurasi-i-yo (I-Top Mari-Acc hate-Prs-SFP), embedding of the sentence
under verbs such as omo-u ‘think’ or kanziru ‘feel’ makes this accusative case marking
possible, as in (1c). The major goal of this paper is to propose a new analysis of the syntax ofhate class adjectives that can capture the connection between the phenomenon illustrated by(1a) and the unusual instance of exceptional case marking found in (1c). It is argued that the* The first section of this paper is reprinted from Proceedings of the 25th West Coast Conference on
Formal Linguistics, with minor editorial revisions. Part of the material in section 2 was presented at
the Hyderabad-Nanzan Joint Workshop on the Syntax-Semantic Interface, held at Nanzan University
in October, 2006. I am grateful for valuable discussions with Yasuaki Abe, Pranav Anand, Hiroshi
Aoyagi, Cedric Boeckx, Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin, Scott Fults, Norbert Hornstein, Howard Lasnik,
Roger Martin, Jeff Lidz, Paul Pietroski, Ivan Ortega-Santos, Maria Polinsky, Sharon Rose, Mamoru
Saito, Juan Uriagereka and the audiences at WCCFL25 and at the Hyderabad-Nanzan Workshop.
Thanks also go to Carol Tenny and Rumiko Sode for sharing their research with me, from which I
benefited a lot. All errors are my responsibility.
Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2, 1-17
© 2007 Tomohiro Fujii

Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2

subject of adjectives of the hate class is obligatorily controlled and that a restriction on the
person of their subject follows from an interaction between the nature of Obligatory Control(OC) and the properties of a functional category at the “right periphery”. For the unusual
exceptional case marking, it is argued that OC PRO, unlike other null elements, is invisible
for the purposes for Minimality.
1.2. The Data
1.2.1. The Person Restriction
As already seen in (1a), the hate class adjectives in Japanese display a restriction on the
person of their subject, dubbed by Tenny (2006) the “Person Restriction” (henceforth, PR).
The phenomenon is first observed by Kuroda (1965: 142-43, 183f., 1973) and then discussed
by Kuno (1973), Inoue (1976), Aoki (1986), Tenny (2006), among others:1(2)a.

{watasi/*kimi/ *Atsuko}-wa kanasi -i -yo
I
you Atsuko -Top sad-Prs -SFP‘{I am, *You are, *Atsuko is} sad.’b.

{watasi/ kimi/ Atsuko-wa kawai -i -yo
I
you Atsuko-Top cute -Prs-SFP‘{I am, You are, Atsuko is} cute.’

The native speaker’s intuition is that, roughly put, the truth or falsity of sentences involving
sad or hate is judged on evidence internal to the speaker’s direct experience. I call theseadjectives the Subject Experiencer (SubjExp) adjectives. (The term is borrowed from
Pesetsky 1995.) The SubExp class includes kanasi-i ‘sad’, natukasi-i ‘remember withnostalgia’, nikurasi-i ‘hate’, urayamasi-i ‘envious’, uresi-i ‘delighted’, etc. Also, I sometimes
call the subject of SubjExp predicates “experiencer subject”. In contrast with SubjExp
adjectives, adjectives like kawai-i do not show a PR, as seen in (2b). I call adjectives of thisclass the non-SubjExp class.
The second relevant property of the PR is that the restriction is sensitive to clause type.
As noted in Kuroda (1973) and others, the choice of person is affected by whether the clauseis declarative or interrogative. The experiencer subject must be first person in declarative
clauses and second person in interrogative clauses. Compare (2a) with (3):1

The PR effect is not observed in narrative contexts (Kuroda 1973). Sentence final particles such as
yo are used to control for this factor, i.e. to force sentences to be interpreted in regular direct speech
contexts. See Tenny (2006) for relevant discussion.

- 2 -Controlling Japanese Experiencer (T. Fujii)(3){*watasi/ kimi/ *Atsuko}-wa kanasi-i -desu-ka
I
you Atsuko -Top sad -Prs -COP.POL -Q‘{*Am I, Are you, *Is Atsuko} sad?’

Tenny (2006) proposes that sentences of the type given in (2a) and (3) involve two higher
functional heads, namely Speech Act (= Sa°) and Evidentiality (= Evid°) and that these heads
have features that restrict the kind of elements that can show up in their specifier. In a Tennystyle analysis, the experiencer subject, which is generated in the predicate-internal subject
position, must move up to the Spec,SaP through Spec,EvidP. The core idea seems to be thatthe moving element must “agree” with each head. The relevant features are, Tenny proposes,
those that define person pronouns: [±author], [±discourse participant] and [±sentient] (seeHarley and Ritter 2002). As is seen in (4), which illustrates the derivation of (2a), Subj isrequired to bear [+author], [+discourse participant] and [+sentient]. This combination offeatures excludes Subj from not being first person:(4)[SaP Subji Sa°(+author & +discourse participant) [EvidP ti Evid°(+sentient) … [AP ti sad …

Neither you (bearing [-author] & [+discourse participant] & [+sentient]) nor she (bearing[-discourse participant] & [+sentient]) is allowed to occur in (4) because the features of these
expressions fail to match the features of the head(s).
1.2.2. Embedding Subject Experiencer Predicates
Now let us consider (5a-b), where the SubjExp adjective nikurasi-i ‘hate’ is embedded
under say (5a) or under the interrogative verb ask (5b) (we use ∆ to refer to empty experiencer
subject):(5)a.

Taroi-wa Atsukoj-ni [∆i/*j watasi-no tomodati-ga nikurasi -i -to] itta
Taro -Top Atuko -Datmyfriend-Nom hate-Prs -C said
‘Taroi said to Atsukoj that {hei, *shej} hated my friend.’b.

Taroi-wa Atsukoj-ni [∆*i/j watasi-no tomodati-ga
nikurasi -i -ka] kiita
Taro-Top Atsuko -Datmyfriend -Nom hate-Prs -Q asked‘Taroi asked Atsukoj if {*hei/shej} hated my friend.’∆ is understood as referentially dependent on the author of the reported assertion in (5a) andon the addressee of the reported question in (5b). In both examples, it is impossible tointerpret ∆ as referring to the actual speaker or hearer of the utterance. Namely, (5a) cannot
mean that Taro said to Atsuko that I hated my friend, and (5b) cannot mean that Taro asked
Atsuko if you hated my friend.
One might say that embedded clauses such as those found in (5) always involve direct
quotation. If so, and if ∆ is a null first or second person element, then it might follow that in-3-

Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2(5a), ∆ must be understood as the author of the reported speech. However, there are many
ways to show that this cannot be correct. For instance, when first person expressions such as
watasi, boku and ore occurring in a quotative clause refer to the actual speaker, the quotative
clause cannot be a direct quote (see Speas 2000, Schlenker 2003, Anand & Nevins 2004 forindexicals that this does not hold of). Given this, the to-clause in (5a) cannot be a direct quote
when my friend refers to the actual speaker’s friend. Under this indirect quote interpretationof (5a), the experiencer subject must still be understood as Taro. Thus, when SubjExp
predicates occur in the complement clause of verbs like say, think or ask, the restriction on theinterpretation of their subject arises in such a way that the understood subject must be boundby the matrix subject or object.
It is worth pointing out that binding by the matrix subject or object does not seem to be a
sufficient condition for the SubjExp-adjectival construction to be acceptable. Take (6a,b). The
SubjExp adjective urayamasi-i ‘envious’ and the non-SubjExp adjective kuwasi-i ‘familiar’are embedded under omo-u ‘think’ in (6a) and (6b), respectively (Ø is used to refer to theempty subject of non-SubjExp predicates). Both the reflexive zibun and the pronoun kanozyo
are bound by the matrix subject, but the sentence does not sound as good as when ∆ is used:(6)a.

Atsukoi-wa [{∆i / ?* zibuni -ga/ * kanozyoi-ga} watasi-no tomodati-oAtsuko-Top
self -Nom she-Nom myfriend-Acc
urayamasi-i -to] omotta
envious -Prs -C thought‘Atsukoi thought that {∆i, ?*selfi, *shei}was envious of my friend.’b.

Atsukoi-wa [{Øi/ zibuni-ga/
kanozyoi-ga} watasi-no tomodati-ni
Atsuko-Top
self -Nom she-Nom myfriend-Dat
kuwasi -i -to] omottafamiliar -Prs -C thought‘Atsukoi thought that {Øi, selfi, shei} knew a lot about my teacher.’

The prediction about the status of the examples in (6) under a Tenny style theory depends on
what features the null category ∆ , the reflexive zibun and the pronoun kanozyo would have.
The theory correctly predicts that kanozyo is disallowed because this [-discourse participant]expression fails to agree with the Speech Act head. We will not explore predictions of theagreement-based approach any further. Rather we would like to ask what kind of element thenull subject in (6a) is.
1.2.3. ∆ =OC PRO
We claim that ∆ is OC PRO. The examples given in (7)-(9) show that ∆ acts like OC
PRO:

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Controlling Japanese Experiencer (T. Fujii)

(7)

a.

Ø kakkoi-i -to ippantekini
good.looking -Prs -C generally

omow -are -tei -ru
think -Pass -Asp -Prs

Lit. ‘proi is thought ti is smart.’ or ‘It is thought pro is smart.’b.

*∆ uresi-i -to ippantekini omow -are -tei -ru
delighted -Prs -C generally think -Pass -Asp -Prs
Lit. ‘∆i is thought ti is delighted’ or ‘It is thought ∆ is delighted.’

(8)

a.

Hiroshii-no zyosyuj -wa [Øi/j Atsuko-ni kibisi -i -to] omotta
Hiroshi’s assistant -Top
Atsuko-Dat hard -Prs -C thought‘Hiroshii’s assistantj found that {Hiroshii, Hiroshi’s assistantj} was hard on
Atsuko.’b.

Hiroshii-no zyosyuj -wa [∆*i/j Atsuko-o nikurasi-i -to] omotta
Hiroshi’s assistant-Top
Atsuko-Acc hate-Prs-C thought‘Hiroshii’s assistantj found that {*Hiroshii, Hiroshi’s assistantj} hated Atsuko.’

(9)

a.

Marii-wa Hiroshij-ni [Øi/j ano mati-ni kuwasi-i-to] omotte hosikatta
Mari-Top Hiroshi-Dat that town-Dat familiar-Prs-C to.think wanted‘Marii wanted Hiroshij to think that {shei, hej} knew a lot about that town.’b.

Marii-wa Hiroshij-ni [∆*i/j ano mati-onatukasi -i -to] omotte hosikatta
Mari-Top Hiroshi-Dat
that town-Acc nostalgic-Prs-C to.think wanted‘Marii wanted Hiroshij to think that {*shei, hej} missed that town.’(10) a.

* Taroi-wa [∆i boku-no imooto-ga
urayamasi-i -to] kanzi-rare-ta
Taro-Topme-Gen sister -Nom envious -Prs-C feel-Pass-Past
Lit. ‘Taroi was felt that hei was envious of my sister.’b.

Taroi-wa [∆i boku-no imooto -ga
urayamasi- i -ka] kik-are -ta
Taro-Topme -Gen sister -Nom envious -Prs-C ask-Pass-Past‘Taroi was asked if hei was envious of my sister.’

The examples in (7), which are impersonal passives (see Saito 1985: 203), show that ∆ needs
an antecedent while Ø does not. (8) shows that ∆ must be c-commanded by its antecedent,
whereas Ø does not have to be. In (9a) and (9b), the most deeply embedded empty subject has
two potential antecedents. The unacceptability of the i reading of (9b) shows that ∆ cannot bebound by the nonlocal antecedent. Note that Ø in (9a) is fine with a long distance antecedent.
The contrast between (10a) and (10b) is analogous to *John was hoped to win vs. John was
told to win; hence a typical contrast between subject control and object control.

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In addition, the experiencer subject exhibits interpretive properties of standard OC PRO.
For instance, when an “only NP” is the antecedent for ∆ and Ø, the former must be construed“covariantly” (11a), whereas the latter can be either construed “covariantly” or “invariantly”(11b):(11) a.

Hiroshii-dake -ga [ ∆i Mari-no koto -onikurasi -i -to] omot-tei -ru
Hiroshi -only -Nom
Mari-Gen thing-Acc hate-Prs-C think-Asp-Prs‘Only Hiroshii thinks that [ i hates Mari].’i. Only Hiroshi is an x such that x thinks that x hates Mariii. *Only Hiroshi is an x such that x thinks Hiroshi hates Marib.

Hiroshii-dake-ga [Øi Mari-no koto -ni kuwasi-i-to]omot-tei -ru
Hiroshi -only-Nom
Mari-Gen thing-Dat familiar-Prs-C think-Asp-Prs‘Only Hiroshii thinks that [Øi knows a lot about Mari].’i. Only Hiroshi is an x such that x thinks that x knows a lot about Mari
ii. Only Hiroshi is an x such that x thinks that Hiroshi knows a lot about MariThus, like OC PRO, ∆ must be understood as a bound variable, while Ø can be referential(Higginbotham 1992). (The same result is found by looking at ellipsis cases such as
Stripping.) Also, subject controlled ∆, just like subject controlled PRO, does not allow for a
non-de se reading (see Chierchia 1989, Higginbotham 1992, among many others). Consider(12a-b):(12) a.

Marii-wa [∆i Taro-o nikurasi-i -to] omotta
Mari -Top
Taro-Acc hate-Prs -C thought‘Marii thought that [ i hated Taro].’b.

Marii-wa [Øi Taro-ni kibisi -i -to] omotta
Mari-Top
Taro-Dat hard -Prs-C thought‘Marii thought that [Øi was hard on Taro].’(12a) is judged as infelicitous in situations where Mari is misinformed about her own identity.
Suppose Mari wrote nasty things about Taro in her diary. One day she read them when she
was completely drunk. Without knowing that they were written by her, she thought: “This girlreally hates Taro!” Statement (12a) is rejected in a context of this kind. By contrast, (12b),
which involves a non-SubjExp adjective, allows for a non-de se interpretation. Suppose that at
the end of our diary story, Mari thought: “This girl is really hard on Taro.” Statement (12b) isreadily accepted.

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1.3. Analysis
1.3.1. The Role of the Speech Act Head
I propose that SubjExp predicates must take OC PRO as their subject and that they arebound by the Speech Act head:(13)

NPi thinks [SaP Sa°(+author)i [TP PROi T° [AP tPRO Adj …

When the SaP is embedded under ask, Sa° bears [-author], and presumably the head is spelled
out as the interrogative complementizer ka. This proposal incorporates Tenny’s (2006) ideathat the Speech Act head constitutes an important component in determination of theinterpretation of the subject of Japanese SubjExp adjectives, together with Speas’s (2000)
suggestion that the embedded Sa° can be co-indexed with a matrix element.
One advantage of this analysis is that (6a) is correctly expected to be degraded withzibun ‘self’ and kanozyo ‘she’ if we assume that OC PRO is in complementary distribution
with zibun. (We will return to this issue in section 2.) Also, a unified account of the Person
Restriction and the OC effects becomes possible if the Sa head in root clauses is assigned thevalue “actual speaker (or hearer)”, which is represented by the feature [+author-@] (or[-author-@]). In this view, (2a) may be analyzed as in (14):(14)[SaP Sa°(+author-@)i [TP PROi T° [AP tPRO Adj …

It should be noted that OC PRO is locally c-commanded by the Sa head in (14) and therefore
the licensing condition for the empty category is satisfied even in root contexts. In thisparticular implementation of an OC analysis, topic phrases like those found in (2a) and (3) aretaken to be some sort of left-dislocated element. In the next subsection, we will see
independent evidence that Sa has the ability to bind NPs.
1.3.2. Sa° as a Potential Binder
Given that the controller-controlee relation must be local, we expect that a potential
antecedent NP provided below SaP can and must be the antecedent for the OC PRO; see
Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 1998 for the idea that heads can be a binder. This state ofaffairs is depicted as in (15), which illustrates a root clause with the SubjExp adjective uresi-i‘delighted’:(15)[SaP Sa°(+author-@)j [XP Hiroshii X° [PROi delighted …

Note that Hiroshi should control the subject of delighted since it is closer to PRO than Sa° is.
Thus non-first person should be allowed to be the subject of delighted. Kuroda 1973

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Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2

documented that various heads that appear above a SubjExp predicate lift the Person
Restriction (see also Aoki 1986, Tenny 2006):2(16) a.

Hiroshi-wa sono mooside-ga uresi-i {-nitigainai/ -kamosirenai} -yo
Hiroshi-Top that offer-Nom delighted -Prs -must/-might-SFP‘Hiroshi {must/might} be delighted with that offer.’b.

Hiroshi-wa sono mooside -ouresi-gat -tei -ru -yo
Hiroshi-Top that offer-Acc delighted -GAR-Asp -Prs -SFP
‘Hiroshi appears to be delighted with that offer.’c.

Hiroshi-wa sono mooside -ga uresi-soo -da -yo
Hiroshi-Top that offer-Nom delighted -Evid -Cop-SFP‘Hiroshi looked delighted with that offer.’

The modals in (16a) are perhaps located above TP, and the evidentials found in (16b) and(16c) are in between TP and AP, judging from their morphological distribution (see section
1.3.4 for further discussion of gar-u). These heads discharge a specifier that serves as theantecedent for PRO.3
Another prediction from the present proposal that Sa° is a binder has to do with an
obviation effect. In a schematic representation like (17), where I is c-commanded by
Sa(+author-@), if the local domain for this pronominal element includes Spec,SaP, then thisconfiguration should result in a Condition B violation (see Kuroda 1973: 378 for a discussionof the oddness of examples of this sort):(17)[SaP Sa(+author-@)i [ModalP Ii-Top must [TP PROi T [AP tPRO delighted …

(18)*? {watasii-wa/ proi} sono mooside -ga
uresi-i -nitigainai
I-Top
that offer-Nom delighted -Prs -Modal‘{I/pro} must be delighted with that offer.’2

Another way in which the PR becomes absent or weak is discussed in the literature. When SubjExp
predicates appear in relative and nominalized clauses, the experiencer subject is not limited to first
person. I won’t be able to discuss these phenomena in this paper. See Kuroda 1973 and Tenny 2006
for details.
3

How does the subject obtain a θ-role when the modals and evidentials are not thematic? In fact, theepistemic modal and the evidential soo-da do not obviously look thematic. This may suggest either
that the subject is licensed by predication of some sort or that it actually raises out of the AP. The
latter possibility is reminiscent of Hornstein’s movement-based approach to OC, where OC PRO is
analyzed as NP-trace. See footnote 5.

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The obviation effect arises, as expected, with the experiencer subject in to-complements:(19)

Taroi-wa [{* karei -ga/ *proi/ watasi-ga} sono mooside -ga
Taro -Top
he -Nom
I-Nom that offer
-Nom
uresi
-i -nitigainai-to] omotteiru
delighted -Prs-must-C thinks‘Taroi thinks that {*hei, I} must be delighted with that offer.’

One potential difficulty arises here. If raising to Spec,ModalP from Spec,TP is allowed,
examples like (18) should allow for a derivation in which PRO moves to Spec,ModalP. Thenwe would predict that the example is good, contrary to fact. Why is it that (18) cannot have aderivation like (20)?
(20)[SaP Sa(+author-@)i [ModalP PROi must [TP tPRO T [AP tPRO delighted …

The hypothesis entertained here is that Spec,ModalP is a Case position. If we assume that OC
PRO cannot be Case-marked (see e.g. Bourchard 1983), then (20) is correctly ruled out. Notehowever that this solution begs one question. How can we avoid PRO being Case-marked inpresent tense-marked clauses in (14) or (17), to begin with?
1.3.3. Case for the Experiencer Subject of To-CPs
There is evidence that the subject position of the to-clause with SubjExp adjectives is not
a Case position. To-CPs with tense-marked SubjExp adjectives behave strikingly similar totheir non-finite analog (often called a “small clause”), where the subject position is, lesscontroversially, a non-Case position (cf. Takezawa 1987). Consider (21):(21)

Taroi-wa [∆i Atsuko-o urayamasi-ku]
omottaTaro -Top
Atsuko-Acc envious -Nonfin thought‘Taro felt envious of Atsuko.’

Building on Rumiko Sode’s observation, Koizumi (2002) analyzes sentences like (21) as
involving OC and an unusual kind of Exceptional Case Marking; see Sode (2002) andKoizumi (2002) for other properties of adjectival small clause constructions.4 As mentioned
in section 1.1, two-place SubjExp adjectives lack the ability to assign accusative case to theirobject. If we assume with Bhatt (2005) that OC PRO is invisible for the purposes of
Minimality (cf. Bobaljik & Wurmbrand 2004), it makes sense that the little v in the matrix

4

The verb kanzi-ru ‘feel’ as well as omo-u ‘think’ allows ECM into to-CPs of the relevant sort, whichapparently violates Minimality. Not all verbs that can select a to-CP with SubjExp predicates allow it,
however. Neither i-u ‘say’ nor interrogative verbs such as kik-u ‘ask’ case-mark the embedded object.
I do not have an answer to the question of what gives rise to this distinction, given that these verbs
assign accusative case in other environments.

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Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2

clause can case mark the internal argument in the embedded small clause.5 As is seen in someof the examples discussed so far, the same kind of ECM is obtained with to-clauses as well as
small clauses:(22)

Taroi-wa [∆i Atsuko-o urayamasi-i -to] omotta
Taro-Top
Atsuko-Acc envious -Prs-C thought‘Taro thinks that he is envious of Atsuko.’

Finally, let us observe that ECM is barred with a non-SubjExp predicate. Uma-i ‘skillful’ isnot subject to the PR and takes a nominative object (Taro-wa yakyuu-ga uma-i-yo ‘Taro isgood at baseball’):(23)

Taroi-wa [∆i/j yakyuu{-ga/* -o} uma -i -to] omotta
Taro-Topbaseball-Nom -Acc skillful -Prs-C thought‘Taro thought that {he, someone else} was good at baseball.’

Because ∆ is not PRO, it causes a Minimality effect. These unusual ECM facts can be
accounted for if we assume that the embedded subject of (22), like the one of (21), is a
non-Case position, as well as that OC PRO is invisible for Minimality. Hence these facts
support our explanation for the illicit derivation discussed in (20).
1.3.4. How Do SubjExp and Non-SubjExp Predicates Differ?
A distinction should be made between SubjExp and non-SubjExp predicates somehow. I
argue that SubjExp predicates lexically require PRO as their external argument. This isreminiscent of “inherently reflexive predicates” in the sense of Pesetsky (1995). In his theoryof causative verbs, Pesetsky suggests that the root of verbs like annoy, i.e. √annoy, isinherently reflexive in that its external argument must be a reflexive element. Pesetsky also
notes that Japanese psych verbs such as kanasim-u (‘be sad’) should be treated the same (p.
309, fn. 105), suggesting that their external argument is a null reflexive. Suppose Pesetsky’snull reflexive is OC PRO (as he hinted at) and that the verb kanasim(-u) is derived byembedding the root kanasi under a verbalizer. An analysis along these lines would give us(24), which represents the VP of Hiroshi-wa sore-o kanasin-da-yo (Hiroshi-Top that-Acc
be.sad-Past-SFP) ‘Hiroshi was sad about that.’(24)[VP Hiroshii [XP PROi sore-o kanasi ] V ]This analysis departs from Pesetsky’s in that what is inherently reflexive is not the verb
5

The invisibility of OC PRO may be derived by appealing to a Hornstein style movement-based
approach to OC, assuming traces are irrelevant for Minimality (see Chomsky 1995: 301). In thisalternative implementation, the embedded subject raises to the matrix Spec,vP (cf. Koizumi 2002) tocheck the external θ-role of think (perhaps through Spec,SaP). The light verb then assigns Case to theembedded object. For reasons of space, I won’t fully spell out this theory here.

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Controlling Japanese Experiencer (T. Fujii)

kanasim but the underlying root kanasi. Note that the -gar-u form of kanasi (see thediscussion of (16b)) can be analyzed in the same way. The affix attaches to the root kanasi toyield the SubjExp verb kanasi-gar-u. Nothing seems to prevent us from extending virtually
the same analysis to verbs like kanasim-u, which Pesetsky analogizes to a root like √annoy in
his system. It should also be noted that the PR is not observed with kanasim-u as well as
kanasi-gar-u. Thus, it seems plausible to conclude that kanasi-i ‘sad-Prs’ displays a PR
because it lacks a verbalizer and to conclude that non-SubjExp predicates are not inherently
reflexive.
1.4. Embedding SubjExp Adjectives under Because
Given our conclusion that the subject of SubjExp adjectives is OC PRO, it is reasonable
to ask whether the OC effect can be observed in other environments besides to-complement
clauses. The experiencer subject in adjunct clauses headed by -node ‘because’ seems to act
like OC, although the full range of data cannot be examined here for space reasons:(25) a.

Marii-wa Johnj-ni [∆i/*j sono koto -ga
kanas-i -node] hanasikaketa
Mari-Top John-Dat
that thing-Nom sad -Prs-because talked.to‘Marii talked to Johnj because {Marii, *Johnj} was sad about that.’b.

Marii-wa Johnj-ni [∆i/j sono koto -ni kuwasi -i -node] hanasikaketa
Mari-Top John-Dat
that thing-Dat familiar -Prs-because talked.to‘Marii talked to Johnj because {Marii, Johnj} knew a lot about that.’c.

Marii-wa Johnj-ni [∆*i/j sono koto -ga kanasi-soo -na -node] hanasikaketa
Mari-Top John -Dat
that thing-Nom sad -Evid -Cop-because talked.to‘Marii talked to Johnj because {*Marii, Johnj} looked sad about that.’(26) a.

* Taroi-no syoosin -wa [∆i kanasi-i -node] yameninatta
Taro-Gen promotion-Top
sad -Prs-because was.cancelled‘Taro’s promotion was cancelled because he was sad.’b.

Taroi-no syoosin -wa [∆i waka -i -node] yameninatta
Taro -Gen promotion-Top
young-Prs-because was.cancelled‘Taro’s promotion was cancelled because he was young.’c.

Taroi-no syoosin -wa [∆i kanasi-soo -na -node] yameninat-ta
Taro -Gen promotion-Top
young-Prs -Cop-because was.cancelled‘Taro’s promotion was cancelled because he looked young.’(25a,b) show that while the antecedent for ∆ is in principle freely determined, the antecedentfor ∆ is always the subject of the clause one higher up. (26a,b) suggest that ∆, unlike Ø, needs- 11 -

Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2

to be c-commanded by its antecedent. It is interesting to note that an obviation effect arises
when an intermediate head such as soo-da is added (as in the c-examples), in the same way as
it arises for root and to-complement clauses. From these data, we conclude that if our
explanation for (18) and (19) is correct, some binder is projected in node-clauses as well as inroot and to-clauses (Tenny 2006, Hara 2006) and that the node-clauses found in (25a,c) and(26a,c) are adjoined to a position c-commanded by the matrix subject and not by the object.
1.5. Conclusion for Section 1
This paper observed that the subject of Subject Experiencer predicates is OC PRO andproposed a unified analysis of the Person Restriction and the exceptional case-marking
phenomenon found when this class of predicates is embedded under verbs such as omo-u‘think.’ Our account crucially relies on the assumption that the distribution of OC PRO is
partly regulated by Case Theory. In particular, we claim that OC PRO cannot be Case-marked.
Note that, as we observed, the empty subject of non-SubjExp behaves like a pronoun or areflexive like zibun.
Before closing the section, I would like to suggest a way to prevent OC PRO fromoccurring in to-clauses (and node-clauses) whose predicate is non-SubjExp one. Note that
nothing we said so far prevents OC PRO from being generated as a non-experiencer subject
and that if it is possible for the subject not to bear Case, OC properties should be observed insentences such as (7a)-(9a), or ECM should be possible in (23). Thus, I am forced to conclude
that the Case assigner for the subject should be active in these cases, unlike in the OC cases.
Although I do not have a definitive answer to the question of where this dichotomy withrespect to Case assignment follows from, I would like to suggest one possibility. Thisdichotomy might be tied to a fact concerning the tense of embedded clauses (see Ogihara
1996 for a standard analysis of a past-under-past sentence like the one found in (27a) and its
present-under-past counterpart):(27) a.

b.

Hiroshii-wa [∆i boku-no kazoku -ni kuwasikat-ta -to] {omotta/
Hiroshi-Topmyfamily -Dat familiar -Past-C think.Past
omot-tei -ru}
think-Asp-Prs‘{Hiroshi thought he had knew, Hiroshi thinks he knew} a lot about my family.’*Hiroshii-wa [∆i boku-no kazoku-o nikurasikat -ta -to] {omotta/
Hiroshi-Topmyfamily -Acc hate
-Past-C think.Past
omot-tei -ru}
think-Asp-Prs‘{Hiroshi thought he had hated, Hiroshi thinks he hated} my family.’

SubjExp predicates, unlike non-SubjExp ones, seem to lack the ability to be in the past tense
form in a sentential complement. Suppose now that the data in (27) show that the embedded T,
when combined with a SubjExp-adjectival root, cannot have a tense feature (cf. Wurmbrand- 12 -

Controlling Japanese Experiencer (T. Fujii)

2006 for relevant discussion). If carrying a tense feature is a necessary condition for a head tobe a Nominative Case assigner, then the proposed Case-theoretic difference between SubjExp
and non-SubjExp predicates can be made to follow from their difference with respect to tense,
put together with the particular assumption about the relationship between tense andNominative Case.
2.

Further Issues on Long-distance ECM

I claimed in section 1.3.3 that the accusative Case for the theme argument of SubjExp
predicates in examples like (22) comes from the matrix clause. (22) is repeated below:(22)

Taroi-wa [∆i Atsuko-o urayamasi-i -to] omotta
Taro-Top
Atsuko-Acc envious -Prs-C thought‘Taro thinks that he is envious of Atsuko.’

The claim that the accusative Case marking under consideration is a kind of ECM seems
empirically correct. The argument comes from the unavailability of accusative Case with“potentialized” predicates taking dative subjects. Accusative Case marking of the theme
argument is incompatible with the dative experiencer whereas it is with nominative
experiencer, as is familiar in the literature:(28) a.

Taro-ni Atsuko-{ ga/ *o} home -rare-ru ( koto)Taro-Dat Atsuko Nom Acc praise-Pot -Prs that‘(… that) Taro can praise Atsuko.’b.

Taro-ga Atsuko-{ ga/ o} home -rare-ru ( koto)Taro-Nom Atsuko Nom Acc praise-Pot -Prs that

Whatever the account of the effect of the dative experiencer, when a potentialized ‘complex
predicate’ takes a dative subject, the verb that is combined with the affix (r)er(u) cannot
assign the accusative Case that it would assign when the affixal verb is not present. Given that,
if accusative objects of the sort found in (22) are assigned Case by the matrix verb, they must
be prevented when the subject is in dative and must be allowed when it is in nominative,
when the potential affix attaches to the verb. The judgment for the relevant example seems to
go in the direction we will expect if -o comes from omow ‘think’:(29) a.

Taroi-ni [∆i Atsuko-{ga/ *o} urayamasi-i -to] om -e -ru ( koto)Taro-Dat
Atsuko- Nom Acc envious -Prs-C think-Pot-Prs ( that)
Lit. ‘(… that) Taro can think that he is envious of Atsuko.’- 13 -

Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2b.

Taroi-ga [∆i Atsuko-{ga/ o}urayamasi-i -to] om -e -ru
Taro-Nom
Atsuko- Nom Acc envious -Prs-C think-Pot-Prs( koto)( that)

The long distance ECM analysis gains further support. Observe first that, as Boeckx andHornstein (2006) correctly point out, the run-of-the-mill ECM process is barred when an
indirect object appears in the matrix clause, as exemplified in (30):(30)* John PERSUADed Bill [Mary to be clever]cf. John persuaded Bill that Mary was clever.

No verbs like PERSUADE do not seem to exist in English. Likewise, we do not find any
double object verb that allows the embedded object to be marked with accusative in theJapanese construction under investigation. For instance, (31) is unacceptable:
Taroi-wa Hiroshi-ni [∆i Atsuko-{*o/ ga}
urayamasi-i -to]Taro-Top Hiroshi-Dat
Atsuko- Acc Nom envious -Prs-C{itta/ tutaeta}
said inform(31)

Lit. ‘Taro {said to, informed} Hiroshi that he is envious of Atsuko.’If the process involved here is ECM, i.e. the object of SubjExp predicates is assigned Case by
the verb of the clause one higher up, the fact that the sentence pattern found in examples like(31) is not attested is expected.
Having argued that the construction that we are dealing with involves exceptional Case
marking, let us turn to the analogous construction with nominative objects, which is shown in(32a):(32) a.

Hiroshii-wa [ei Mari-ga
nikurasi -i -to] {omotta/ kanzita}
Hiroshi-Top
Mari-Nom hate-Prs-C thought felt
‘Hiroshi thought that he hated Mari.’b.

Hiroshii-wa [∆i Mari-onikurasi -i -to] {omotta/ kanzita}
Hiroshi-Top
Mari-Acc hate-Prs-C thought felt

If we are right that ultra long-distance ECM is possible due to the fact that OC PRO is
invisible for Case marking, and if nominative objects are licensed by [+finite] T, i.e. a
Case-assigning T (Takezawa 1987, Koizumi 1995), then we expect that the null subject foundin examples like (32a), as opposed to the one found in examples like (32b), behavesdifferently than OC PRO does. The position of the null subject is a Case position.
Curiously enough, the accusative and the nominative object constructions seem to differ
from each other with respect to long distance antecedence. As we have seen, the accusative
object construction does not allow for long distance antecedents for the null subject. The- 14 -

Controlling Japanese Experiencer (T. Fujii)

nominative object construction, however, seems to allow for this interpretive possibility.
Consider the pair of (33) and (34) below. The observation is that the i reading of (34) is
considerably easier than the analogous reading of (33):(33)

Marii-wa [ Hiroshij-ni [∆*i/j Nagoya-onatukasi -i -to]Mari-Top
Hiroshi -Dat
Nagoya-Acc nostalgic -Prs-C
omotte] hosikatta
to.think wanted‘Marii wanted Hiroshij to think that {*shei, hej} missed Nagoya.’(34)

Marii-wa [ Hiroshij-ni [ei/j Nagoya-ga
natukasi -i -to]Mari-Top Hiroshi-Dat
Nagoya-Nom nostalgic -Prs-C
omotte] hosikatta
to.think wanted‘Marii wanted Hiroshij to think that {shei, hej} missed Nagoya.’

We observe that statement (30) is accepted in contexts that are biased towards the ‘long
distance’ interpretation (=i reading) whereas (33) cannot be. The following scenario provides
such a situation.
(35)

Mari, who is a Japanese girl from Nagoya, came to Hyderabad to study Indian
languages a few weeks ago. She met Hiroshi, who is a Japanese guy living there
for years. He is very nice to new Japanese people who haven’t gotten used to theway things work in Hyderabad. Mari knows that Hiroshi even buys East Asianfood for Japanese people who miss their home country a lot. Even though Mari
doesn’t miss Japan at all and has decided to stay in India, she wants to have him
buy her some Japanese food.

While all the speakers I consulted with uniformly reject statement (33), some speakers
including myself accept statement (34) when it is made under the situation described above.
This is not surprising if the null subject occurring in the construction with nominative objects
is a different creature from the one occurring in the construction with ECM objects. The
former, unlike the latter, is not OC PRO.
The question that arises is what kind of element the embedded null subject found in (34)is. Example (36) suggests that it can be the null counterpart of the reflexive zibun, which is afamiliar long-distance reflexive (see Kuroda 1965: chapter 5 for relevant discussion):(36)

Marii-wa [ Hiroshij-ni [ zibuni/j-ga Nagoya-ga
Mari-Top Hiroshi-Dat self -Nom Nagoya-Nom
omotte] hosikatta
to.think wanted

natukasi -i -to]nostalgic -Prs-C‘Marii wanted Hiroshij to think that {shei, hej} missed Nagoya.’- 15 -

Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue 1, Vol. 2This example clearly has the ‘long distance’ interpretation in which the reflexive is bound by
Mari, as well as the other interpretation in which it is bound by the intermediate subject
Hiroshi.
It is important to note that the “reflexive subject requirement” for SubjExp predicates,
which was discussed in section 1.3.4, needs to be met and that the acceptability of (36) showsthat it can be met with the overt reflexive zibun. I argued above that ultra long distance ECM
is obtained only when the local subject is reflexive and does not bear Case. Then, a predictionthat we can make is that ECM of the relevant sort should be barred when the most deeply
embedded subject is zibun. It needs Case. (37) is the relevant example, and it is unacceptable,
as expected:(37)* Mari-wa [ Hiroshi-ni [ zibun-ga Nagoya-onatukasi -i -to]Mari-Top Hiroshi-Dat self -Nom Nagoya-Acc nostalgic -Prs-C
omotte] hosikatta
to.think wanted

The unacceptability of this example cannot be attributed to the mere presence of zibun, given
the acceptability of (36). Thus, it must be accounted for in terms of Case. The data presentedin (33), (34), (36) and (37) all follow readily from the assumption made in section 1 without
any stipulation, put together with the reasonable assumption that the null subject in (34) is thenull analogue of zibun ‘self’.

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