On the Selection of Clausal Complements in a Minimalist Framework
Jason Ginsburg
Hiroshi Terada
Sandiway Fong
Osaka Kyoiku University
Osaka Kyoiku University
University of Arizona
Assuming recent developments of the Minimalist Program, e.g. (Chomsky 2013;2015), Universal Grammar (UG) must provide the means for constructing constituents
through Merge and present all available cases, properly Labeled, at the conceptualintensional (CI) interface for interpretation. We show how UG deals with certain verbal
complements: there is considerable variation in how English verbs take sentential (andsentence-like) complements such as small clauses, gerundives and full (tensed) clauses.
The clausal complement to verbs of immediate perception such as see exhibit
dependent time reference (DTR), to use Noonan (2007)’s terminology, and thus are
predicted to be only compatible with complements not containing Tense (T). The timeframe of the complements is dependent on the time reference of the matrix selecting verb.
(1) (a) I saw {α that John/he/*him left} (b) *I saw {β John/he/him to leave}(c) I saw {γ John/*he/him leaving} (d) I saw {δ John/*he/him leave}
In (1d), uninflected δ = vP, is a small clause. γ in (1c) contains also a small clause selectedby the categorizer -ing. We propose that there is no T present in (1c-d). β in (1b) is headed
by nonfinite T and is ungrammatical. Note that (1a) also is ungrammatical with respect
to immediate perception see. This is, however, well-formed under the interpretation inwhich see is a predicate of (acquisition of) knowledge, to retain Noonan’s (2007)
terminology, referring to knowledge that was obtained before the act of seeing. Since α =CP, and a full CP contains T, this is predicted.
Sentential complement-taking verbs that exhibit independent time reference (ITR) are
predicted to have complementary distribution to verbs such as see. The complements tothese verbs must have unique time references from the selecting matrix verb. Consider
the knowledge predicate know:(2) (a) I know {α that John/he/*him left}(b) I know {β John/*he/him to go (sometimes/from time to time)}(c) *I know {γ John/he/him leaving}(d) *I know {δ John/he/him leave}
The event of leaving is not tied to knowledge acquisition time, and thus must be specified
via independent T, as in (2a). (2b) has a potential event interpretation, made clear by theadverbials, so it is well-formed. Examples (2c-d) are ruled out since there is no T in γ andδ, and no T necessitates DTR, but know is an ITR-selecting verb.

1

Consider now the corresponding syntactic environment at the CI interface shown in(3), with R1 the matrix verb, viz. see in (1a-d) and know in (2a-d), and R2 the intransitive
complement verb, viz. leave in (1) and (2). Furthermore, EA = external argument. In thecase of transitive R2, not discussed here, {v*, {R2, IA}} may be freely substituted for the
intransitive {v, R2}, IA = internal argument; Object Shift (OS) not shown, (perhaps) is
required for IA Labeling (Chomsky 2015).
(3) (a) {T, {v*, {R1, {C, {EA, {T, {EA, {v, R2}}}}}}}}(b) {T, {v*, {R1, {EA, {T-to, {EA, {v, R2}}}}}}}(c) {T, {v*, {R1, {EA, {-ing, {v, R2}}}}}}(d) {T, {v*, {R1, {EA, {v, R2}}}}}The selectional requirements for clausal complementation can be checked at the CIinterface as follows: suppose R, v and T must always come together (a requirement from
Full Interpretation, perhaps grammaticalized through obligatory categorization ofundifferentiated R and the affixal nature of v). In (3c-d), the lower v must find a T
although no T exists in the small clause. Then, the nearest T is the T in the higher clause.
Should lower v find higher T, the lower clause exhibits DTR. But ITR obtains if there isa lower T present. Note that there is no Phase boundary problem in (3c-d), assume higherv* and T come together. In (3b), we assume nonfinite T does not require C, e.g. following
Chomsky (2019 UCLA lectures), and the required accusative Case on the pronominal in(2b) is predicted. Similarly, accusative Case is predicted for (1c-d). In (3a), tensed T
requires and co-occurs with C, optionally pronounced as that. (In the case of Germanic
V2, R, v, T and C must come together.)(4) (a) *John leave(b) *You know John leave(c) *I saw you knew John leave(d) You know I saw him leave(4a) is ruled out by Full Interpretation as no T exists. (4b) is explained if the higher T,
associated to ITR-taking predicate know, is not accessible to lower v, due to a lexical
property of know. (4c) shows a blocking effect; i.e. lower v cannot access the (even higher)
T associated with see, cf. (4d). Blocking effects must fall out from third factor
considerations, i.e. access must be subject to minimal search.
We will also explain in detail how this analysis works with respect to these verbs, andother related verbs that behave slightly differently, such as want and prefer.
References: [1] Chomsky, N. 2013. Problems of projection. Lingua 130. 33-49. [2]Chomsky, N. 2015. Problems of projection: Extensions. In di Domenico et al. (eds.),
Structures, strategies and beyond: Studies in honour of Adriana Belletti, 1-16. [3] Noonan,
M. 2007. Complementation. In T. Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic
description, 52-150.

2

Identification by Stancetaking in Corporate Mission Statements
Mana Kitazawa (Keio University)
This paper discusses the discursive practices of identification in corporate mission statements.
Most of the research focusing on the dynamic process of identification has attempted touncover how people create their own identities within discourse, especially in spoken language,
such as narrative or dialogue (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006; De Fina, 2019). Inspired by them, thispaper examines whether this process of self-identification can also be observed in corporate
mission statements, using the perspective of stancetaking (Du Bois, 2007).
In mission statements, various stances should coexist, because there are many people
involved, ranging from inside stakeholders, such as employees and partners, to outside
stakeholders, such as customers, shareholders, and communities. Baetz and Bart (1966)
maintained that the wider the range of stakeholders who get involved with the process ofmaking mission statements—for example, by exchanging their opinions—the more likely it isfor a corporation to succeed in management and to increase employee commitment andsatisfaction. This paper argues that, during the process of developing mission statements,
corporations attempt to align themselves with employees and stakeholders by indicating thatthey understand each stance and incorporating them into the mission statements. Further, it
claims that incorporating this affiliation into mission statements helps employees todiscursively construct their own identities as staff members.
Du Bois (2007) noted that stancetaking, which means that a person takes a stance onsomething, occurs in dialogue, and the stance is intersubjectively determined within that
dialogue. He maintained that the process of stancetaking always involves three actions: “Thestancetaker (1) evaluates an object, (2) positions a subject (usually the self), and (3) aligns withother subjects” (Du Bois, 2007, p. 163). He suggested a model of stancetaking, called the stancetriangle (Figure 1), and argued for the importance of the intersubjectivity of the stancetaking.
This paper demonstrates that several stances coexist in a mission statement, and, throughreading it, employees begin to construct an identity appropriate to a member of the organization.
Although mission statements are media discourses that have “multiple communicative
purposes (e.g. a mixture of information, promotion and entertainment)” (Feng, 2019, p. 123),
this paper focuses only on the function of promoting the creation of identity among employees.
This paper suggests a stance trigonal pyramid (Figure 2) instead of the stance triangle. In
example (1), the corporation (Subject 1), Centene, highly values that people live healthier lives(Objective) because it displays a positive attitude with the evaluative phrase is committed tohelping. The description, which reflects the feedback of stakeholders gained during the making
process of the mission statement, indicates the convergent alignment with the stakeholders(Subject 3). Further, the evaluation and positioning are shared by employees as readers (Subject
2) through the convergent alignment marker Centene. In the second sentence, the first-person
plural pronoun We plays a crucial role in the corporation aligning itself with the employees andsharing the evaluations and positioning, which arise from the intersubjective interactions withthe stakeholders. Through this mission statement, the employees, as members of the corporate
community, come to correctly understand what the stakeholders desire (e.g., wanting to have
healthier lives and to get well, stay well, and be well) and what they should do (e.g., provide

access to high-quality healthcare, innovative programs, and a wide range of health solutions)
to realize it.
To summarize, this paper argues for the importance of analyzing stancetaking in mission
statements to reveal how people dynamically construct their own identities within discourse.
Although the significance of the dynamic process of identification has been taken for granted,
there has been little research focusing on the relationship between media discourse and identity
construction. This paper demonstrates that employees can discursively gain an identity as staff
members through mission statements, which are the product of the stancetaking implemented
by three subjects: corporations, employees, and stakeholders.
Figures and Example

Figure 1. The stance triangle(Du Bois, 2007, p. 163).

Figure 2. The stance trigonal pyramidin mission statements.

(1) Who We Are
Centene is committed to helping people live healthier lives. We provide access to highquality healthcare, innovative programs, and a wide range of health solutions that help
families and individuals get well, stay well, and be well.
References
Baetz, M. C., & Bart, C. K. (1996). Developing mission statements which work. Long Range
Planning, 29(4), 526–533.
Benwell, B. & Stokoe, E. (2006). Discourse and identity. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh
University Press.
De Fina, A. (2019). Discourse and identity. In Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Retrieved
from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0326.pub2
Du Bois, J. W. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (Ed.), Stancetaking in discourse:
Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction (pp. 139–182). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
Feng, D. W. (2019). Interdiscursivity, social media and marketized university discourse: A
genre analysis of universities’ recruitment posts on WeChat. Journal of Pragmatics,
143, 121–134.

Token-Merge and Its Implications for Copy/Repetition Distinction
Daiki Matsumoto / Kyoto University & JSPS Research Fellow (DC1)
I argue that Copy/Repetition Distinction (CRD), a serious problem in the Minimalist Program (MP),can be successfully conceptually solved by making use of the idea of token-Merge and the SELECT.
MP assumes that an elementary combinatoric computation Merge is the sole generative engine
of syntax (see Chomsky 2008; Collins 2017). Merge takes two discrete items and produces a set outof them. The input types of Merge are in turn defined as follows (Collins 2017).
(1)

X is an input to Merge iff X is a Lexical Item LI or an output of previous Merge(s)One thing that is unclear in this intuitively-obvious definition of Merge’s inputs, however, is thestatus of LIs; what specifically are they? Answering this question should be regarded as one of the
primary objects of inquiry in MP, since, given the genericity and ubiquity of Merge as an“elementary” computation across other cognitive/sensorimotor domains, the inputs to syntactic
Merge lie at the heart of Hauser’s (2009) “humaniqueness” of language (see Boeckx 2015; Poeppel
2012 for the genericity and ubiquity of Merge from a biolinguistic viewpoint). Nonetheless, to thebest of my knowledge, no serious attention to this has been paid in the history of MP.
An exception can be found in Hornstein (2001). Hornstein argues that inputs to Merge are
actually copies of LIs stored in the long-term memory (LTM). His logic is simple: if the LIs weretaken (Selected, in the sense of Chomsky 1995 and Collins and Stabler 2016) as inputs to Merge,
they would be eliminated from LTM after generating an expression from them, contrary to fact.
Thus, Merge operates on copies of LIs in lieu of LIs themselves. Notice in passing that thisindicates that inputs to Merge are tokens of the LIs stored in the long-term memory (LTM). Put
differently, Merge combines tokenized items of types.
This is quite compatible with Kosta and Krivochen’s (KK) (2014) token-Merge (see also
Krivochen 2016 among others). They argue that Merge combines tokens assembled in a Lexical
Array (LA). However, contra Chomsky (1995 inter alia), KK’s token-Merge does not exhaust thetokens in a given LA; i.e., even after an item is taken from an LA to be an input to Merge, itremains accessible in that array. Put yet another way, tokens in an LA become types of thecorresponding items in the workspace (WS), and the items in the WS are the tokens of the LIs.
However, KK’s token-Merge and Hornstein’s proposal suffer a serious problem; they remainsilent on how the copies/tokens are mapped onto the WS. Also, KK do not discuss how an LA isformed in the first place (notice that the same holds for Chomsky 1995 and Chomsky et al. 2019).
Reflecting all these problems in KK’s and Hornstein’s analyses, I argue that what I call SELECT
is responsible for this labor. SELECT is a copying procedure which maps its outputs (viz. copies =tokens) from LTM to the syntactic WS, formally defined in (2) below.
(2)

SELECT(A) = A’, where A’ is a copy in the WS of A stored in LTM

I claim that this operation secures the computational efficiency of Merge by restricting its
search-domain. Specifically, since SELECTed copies are treated as a single, flat item in the WS, thisfunction enables Merge to “ignore” all of the inner semantic and phonological features of the copy/
token; SELECT makes Merge “blind” to all these inner properties of its inputs. Succinctly put, asonly SELECTed copies are “mergeable,” it attaches the edge feature (EF) in the sense of Chomsky(2008) to its outputs and only this EF is visible to Merge (what Chomsky 2004 calls 0-Search).
Based on these observations regarding the SELECT operation, I propose a(n novel) idea thatsolves the problem of CRD. Collins and Groat (2018) persuasively argue that the current MP theory
provides no satisfactory way of distinguishing copies (what was hit what) and repetitions (what hitwhat). Although Chomsky et al. (2019) claim that Chomsky’s (2008) Phase Impenetrability
Condition circumvents this problem, their argument is far from satisfactory since they rely on the
difference between External and Internal Merge, which they argue to be virtually the identicaloperation (after all, how can one type of operation be responsible for two distinct phenomena?)
My claim is that the SELECT theory, together with KK’s token-Merge, can neatly solve thisrecalcitrant conundrum. Suppose we SELECT an LI what and map its copy onto the WS, andMerge it with an independently SELECTed copy hit, yielding the set {hit, what}. Successive
applications of Merge yield the final output {what, {T, {hit, what}}}} (here I abstract away from
irrelevant details). In the case of repetitions, we want these two whats in the generated set above tobe the same tokens, whereas they should be different in the case of copies. It is now easy to provide
an answer. As KK argue, tokens cannot be duplicated. Therefore, it can be deduced that repetitions
are multiple SELECTs while copies are multiple applications of Merge. Put more formally, since(Internal) Merge does not tokenize the what in {hit, what}, the superset {what, {T, {hit, what}}}contains two identical what-tokens. In contrast, SELECT by definition generates copies/tokens of its
inputs, the set {what, {T, {hit, what}}} in the case of multiple applications of this operation has two
distinct tokens of what-type. In this way, the type-token dynamics by an independently necessary
operation SELECT can successfully distinguish copies and repetitions, with no recourse to types ofMerge nor PIC nor Numeration (Chomsky 1995) in any artificial way.
References
Boeckx, C. (2015). Elementary Syntactic Structures. Cambridge: CUP / Chomsky, N. (1995). The
Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press / Chomsky, N. (2004). Beyond explanatory
adequacy. In A. Belletti (ed.), Structures and Beyond, 104–131. Oxford: OUP / Chomsky, N.
(2008). On phases. In R. Freidin et al. (eds.), Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory. Essays in
Honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud, 291–321. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press / Chomsky, N., Gallego, Á.
J. and Ott, D. (2019). Generative grammar and the faculty of language: Insights, questions andchallenges. ms., lingbuzz/003507 / Collins, C. (2017). Merge(X, Y) = {X, Y}. In L. Bauke and A.
Blümel (Eds.), Labels and Roots, 47–68. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter / Collins, C. and Stabler, E.
(2016). A formalization of minimalist syntax. Syntax, 19, 43–78 / Collins, C. and Groat, E. (2018).
Distinguishing copies and repetitions. ms., NYU and Newcastle University / Hauser, M. D. (2009a).
The origin of the mind. Scientific American, 44–51 / Hornstein, N. (2001). Move! A Minimalist
Theory of Construal. Oxford: Blackwell / Kosta, P. and Krivochen, D. E. (2014). Flavors of
movement: Revisiting the A/A′ distinction. In P. Kosta et al. (eds), Minimalism and Beyond:
Radicalizing the Interfaces, 236–266. Amsterdam: John Benjamins / Krivochen, D.
G. (2016). Tokens vs. copies: displacement revisited. Studia Linguistica, 70(3), 250–296 / Poeppel,
D. (2012). The maps problem and the mapping problem: Two challenges for a cognitive
neuroscience of speech and language. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 29(1–2), 34–55.

Clausal and phrasal readings of English ‘phrasal’ comparatives
Yoshiaki Morimoto (Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University, Japan)
Introduction: This presentation will take up so-called phrasal comparatives in English: e.g. John is taller
than me. In this presentation, I will focus on four types of than-NP’s: the than-accusative (than-ACC), thethan-reflexive (than-REF), the than-wh-words (than-WH), and the than-numeral (than-NUM). I will argue
that the than-ACC, the than-REF, and the than-WH have underlying clausal structure and that the thanNUM is a preposition phrase (hereafter PP). In the course of my arguments, inspired by Merchant (2004)’s
discussion on fragment answers, I will employ binding tests to show that the than-NP’s at issue other than
the than-NUM are reduced clauses.
Background: It has been pointed out that a than-XP can take both a clausal form (1a) and a phrasal form(1b), with than-NP’s included in the latter. It has also been pointed out that many of the phrasal than-XP’s
are reduced clauses (2). However, it is still not clear whether some types of the than-NP’s have clausal
structure or not, though they do not seem to be reduced finite clauses (3). These than-NP’s cannot havetheir finite clausal forms derived in the same way as (2), so these forms seem to be PP’s. However, (3a-c)
have semantically corresponding clausal forms. This dilemma cannot be accounted for the assumption thatthe than-NP’s like (3a-c) are PP’s. It remains unclear clear whether they have some clausal structure or not.
Previous attempt to treat than-NP’s as clauses and its drawbacks: Lechner (2004) argued that the thanACC and the than-REF have clausal structure. He proposed to describe these than-NP’s as reduced small
clauses. Under this assumption, he argues, it is possible to claim that these two than-NP’s are reduced
clauses (4)-(5). However, there are two problems with this small-clause analysis. First, the small-clauseanalysis deals only with copular constructions, and it doesn’t work for non-copular constructions (6).
Second, the small-clause analysis doesn’t provide evidence that the than-NP’s taken up here have clausal
structure. It just provides a potentially effective way to describe the than-NP’s under the assumption thatthey are (nonfinite) clauses. It is necessary to solve these problems in order to determine how to treat thesethan-NP’s. With regard to the than-NUM’s like (3d), they should be PP’s, because NUM in the than-NUM
directly refers to the degree of compared element (e.g. fifteen million in (3d)) and does not require a speaker
to invoke clausal structure. Lechner (2004) takes up (7a) as an example of small clauses (7b), but as pointed
out by Zhang (2013), this analysis doesn’t work. If the world record is the reduced nonfinite clause, theclausal form should be like than the world record ran y-fast (7c), but this cannot be true. Rather, the world
record is interpreted referentially, e.g. as 9.58 (7d), which indirectly makes it possible to interpret (7a)phrasally, in the same way as the than-NUM.
Observations: Inspired by Merchant (2004)’s binding tests on fragment answers (8), I conducted binding
tests on the than-ACC, the than-REF, and the than-WH to see whether the than-NP’s in question haveclausal structure (9). These tests contained non-copular constructions, which are beyond the scope ofLechner’s small-clause analysis. The than-WH was judged as ungrammatical, but wh … than was fine, so
the binding test was conducted on this wh …than version (hereafter WH+than). Given (3), if the than-NP’sare clauses, they should be nonfinite. First, I examined (9a), and, it was found that it is impossible tointerpret him as referring to John. Given that John in the matrix clause does not bind he or him, Binding
Condition B is not violated, and obviously Binding Condition A is not involved here, so the only possibility
is that Binding Condition C is violated, which indicates that an elided referential is bound by him/he. Thissuggests that he/him binds covert John, and that clausal structure is elided under than. (9b-d) are intended
to examine whether sloppy reading is possible with each type of than-NP’s: the than ACC (9b), the thanREF (9c), and the WH+than (9d). The result is that sloppy reading was possible with all of them: than her
can be interpreted as than SHE hurt herself (9b), than himself as than HE was looking at himself (9c), who+ than as than ‘who’ is looking at himself or herself (9d). This shows that NP’s in than-NP’s bind a covert
element, and that the than-NP’s have clausal structure identical to the matrix clause.
Proposals and unsettled problems: Based on the discussions above, my proposals are, (i) the than-ACC,
the than-REF, and the WH+than have underlying nonfinite clausal structure and all the elements except theovert NP are always covert, and (ii) the than-NUM is a PP. However, there still remains two other problems.
First, it has not been made clear how the than-NP’s as in (3a-c) are derived from underlying clausal structure.
Second, there are still problematic than-NP’s which I didn’t take up here: than-NEG (e.g. Tom is taller thanno one (#is)), for example. These two problems need to be examined in future research.

Data(1) a.
b.

John is more intelligent than Mary is.
John is more intelligent than Mary.

(2) John is taller than Mary.
a. John is taller than Mary is y-tall.
c. John is taller than Mary is y-tall.
e. John is taller than Mary is.

[clausal][phrasal][John is x-tall; Mary is y-tall; x>y][obligatory deletion][nonobligatory ellipsis](3) a.

than-ACC: She is older than me (*am).
(Huddleston & Pullum 2002: 1113)(CAN BE PARAPHRASED INTO: … older than I am)b. than-REF: He married a woman fifteen years younger than himself (*was). (ibid: 1117)(CAN BE PARAPHRASED INTO: … fifteen years younger than he was)c. than-WH: It was decided by Judge Darwin, than whom (*was) no one could be more impartial.
(ibid: 1117)(CONVEYS: no one could be more impartial than Judge Darwin was)d. than-NUM: The population of Mexico is more than fifteen million. (McCauley 1998: 693)

(4) a.
b.
(5) a.
b.

John is older than me. (Lechner 2004: 179)
John is older than [Small Clause me y-old].
→John is older than [Small Clause me y-old].
John couldn’t possibly be taller than himself. (ibid:181)
John couldn’t possibly be taller than [Small Clause himself d-tall].
→John couldn’t possibly be taller than [Small Clause himself d-tall].

[than-ACC][than-REF](6) He runs faster than me. (= He runs faster than I do/run/*am.)(7) a.
b.
c.
d.

She ran faster than the world record. (ibid: 182 & Zhang 2013: 2090)
She ran faster than [Small Clause the world record d-fast]. (Lechner’s analysis) → doesn’t work
She ran faster than the world record ran d-fast.
→ doesn’t work
If the world record is 9.58, ‘than the world record’ is paraphrased into ‘than 9.58.’ [phrasal OK](8) Questions―Fragment answers./Full-sentence Answers.
(Merchant 2004: 679-680)
a. Where is hei staying?―*In John’si apartment./*Hei is staying in John’si apartment. [×Condition C]
b. Who did Johni try to shave?―*Himi./*Johni tried to shave himi.
[×Condition B]✓
c. Who does John like?―Himself./John likes himself.
[ Condition A](9) a.

b.

c.

d.

*Mary hurt Johni more badly than hei/himi.
- violation of Binding condition C- himi=SUBJ … hurt=V … Johni=OBJ [than himi PARAPHRASED INTO than hei hurt Johni]John hurt himself more badly than her.
[than-ACC]- than her PARAPHRASED INTO than SHE hurt herself [sloppy identity] → OK
- her=SUBJ … hurt=V … herself=OBJ
John found Mary looking at herself more closely than himself.
[than-REF]- than himself PARAPHRASED INTO than HE was looking at himself [sloppy identity] → OK
- himself/John=SUBJ … looking=V … himself=OBJ
I wonder who Mary is looking at herself more closely than.
[WH+thanH]- who is looking at himself or herself [sloppy identity] → OK
- who=SBJ … looking=V … himself or herself=OBJ

Cited Workds: Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the
English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Lechner, Winfried (2004) Ellipsis inComparatives. Mouton De Gruyter, Germany. / McCauley, James D., (1998) The Syntactic Phenomena of
English, 2nd ed. US: University of Chicago Press. / Merchant, Jason (2004) “Fragments and ellipsis.” In
Linguistics and Philosophy 27: 661-738. Netherland: Kluwer Academic Publishers. / Zhang, Xiaowen(2013) “The Formation of English Phrasal Comparatives: Study of Lechner’s Small Clause Analysis.”
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 3, No. 11: 2086-2091, Finland.

The relationship between Sar(u) Expression and Argument Selection in Kesen
Fumikazu Niinuma
Morioka University
Introduction: Sar(u) expression, which is mainly spoken by people who live in Northern part ofJapan, is considered as a spontaneous auxiliary (see Niinuma and Takahashi (2013), and Niinuma(2018) and references therein). One of the interesting properties of the expression, which is firstpointed out by Takahashi (2013), is that a verb which has the transitive/intransitive marker e cannot
concatenate with the sar(u) expression, as in (1-2). Notice that the sar(u) expression can beconcatenated with transitive verbs as well as intransitive verbs, as in (3).
(1) a. atsum-ar-u‘to gather’atsum-ar-asar-u
gather-INT-present
gather-INT-SARU-present
b. atsum-e-ru‘to gather’*atsum-e-rasar-u
gather-TR-present
gather-TR-SARU-present(2) a. kir-u‘to cut’
kir-asar-u
cut-present
cut-SARU-present
b. kir-e-ru‘to be cut’*kir-e-rasar-u
cut-INT-present
cut-INT-SARU-present(3) a. kak-u‘to write’
kak-asar-u
write-present
write-SARU-present
b. nak-u‘to cry’nak-asar-u
cry-present
cry-SARU-present
Based on these findings, Niinuma (2019) examined all types of transitive-intransitive pairs (cf.
Jacobsen (1992)), and points out that when the sar(u) expression is concatenated with a verb, there is
a competition between every type of the transitive-intransitive pair. Then, he makes a generalization
regarding the spontaneous expression and the transitive/intransitive verbs in Kesen, as shown in (4).
(4) Generalization concerning the morpheme asar- and the intransitive verbs which havetheir transitive counterpart
a. The morpheme asar- can concatenate with the transitive verbs when the transitivemarker is phonetically null.
b. Otherwise, the morpheme asar- concatenates with the intransitive verbs.
This generalization correctly explains the acceptability of (5-6). (5b) is unacceptable because there isan overt transitive marker, and (6a) is also unacceptable because the transitive counterpart does havea phonetically-null transitive marker.
(5) a. ag-ar-u‘to go up’
ag-ar-asar-u
go.up-INT-present
go.up-INT-SARU-present
b. ag-e-ru‘ro raise’*ag-e-rasar-u
go.up-TR-present
go.up-TR-SARU-present(6) a. hasam-ar-u‘to be put in’ *hasam-ar-asar-u
put.in-INT-present
put.in-INT-SARU-present
b. hasam-u‘to put in’hasam-asar-u
put.in-present
put.in-SARU-present
Question: Even though the generalization in (4) correctly explains the morphological form of thetransitive/intransitive verb pair, there is a problem concerning the relationship between the verb form
and the selection of the argument. Suga (1980) points out that there are some verbs which allows
intransitive-transitive-transitive “triplets” in Japanese, as in (7). Interestingly, he observes that there
are some cases where the internal arguments that these transitive verbs take are different, as in (8).
(7) a. tok-u‘to solve’
solve-present
b. tok-as-u‘to melt (transitive)’
solve-TR-present

c.

tok-e-ru‘to melt (intransitive)’
solve-INT-present(8) a. *Nao-ga
koori-otoi-taNao-Nom
ice-Accsolve-past‘Nao dissolved the ice.’b. Nao-ga
koori-otok-asi-ta
Nao-Nom
ice-Accsolve-TR-past‘Nao dissolved the ice.’c. Koori-ga
tok-e-ta.
ice-Nomsolve-INT-past‘The ice melted.’
With them in mind, let us consider (9).
(9) Koori-ga
tok-asar-ta/*tok-as-asar-ta/*tok-e-rasar-ta
ice-Nomsolve-SARU-past/solve-TR-SARU-past/solve-INT-SARU-past‘The ice is melted unintentionally.’
The derived subject in (9) is the one that is taken by (8b) tokasu or (8c) tokeru, not by (8a) toku. Notethat (9) shows that the output of the verb is correctly accounted for by the generalization (4), since
the transitive verb in (7a) does not have any overt transitive marker. Thus, there is a mismatch between
the verb form which the spontaneous auxiliary sar(u) is attached to and the argument NP.
Analysis: As for transitive/intransitive competitions, Following Oseki (2017), who argues thattransitive/intransitive marker is located in Voice, and Niinuma (2019) assumes that the spontaneous
auxiliary is just above VoiceP, as in (10). Niinuma (2019) then argues that the Elsewhere Condition
as well as locality, especially phase theory, correctly explain the competitions, as in (11-12).
(10) [TP [FP [VoiceP NP [vP NP [v’ root + v ]] Voice ] auxiliary ] Tense](11) Elsewhere Condition (Bobaljik (2012: 9), (12))
If two (incompatible) rules R1, R2 may apply to a given structure, and the context
for application of R2 is contained in that of R1, then R1 applies and R2 does not.
(12) Bošković (2016)’s contextual phase theory
a. the highest projection in the extended domain of a lexical head/clause functions as aphase (vP and CP are phases).
b. the next merger determines the phasehood of XP.
c. X can be targeted by movement due to the need to undergo successive-cyclic
movement without violating the PIC (cf. Chomsky 2000, 2001)).
What is important here is that the spontaneous auxiliary is not a category-changing head, which meansthat it is not a phase head, and thus the verbal complex [[[root+v] Voice] auxiliary] is in the same
phase. Based on the following analysis, I would like to propose that the syntax is free in the sensethat all the verbs in (8) can enter the syntactic structure. More specifically, in syntax, the structure(13a) or (13b) can be constructed. After that, the internal argument undergoes movement to Spec TP,
and licenses its nominative Case. However, in PF, because of the competition, the verb form which
can be concatenated with the spontaneous auxiliary has to be competed, and the verb tok-u would beselected, as shown in (9).
(13) a. [TP [FP [VoiceP (agent) [vP ice [v’ tok + v ]] as ] asar ] u]b. [TP [FP [VoiceP[vP ice [v’ tok + v ]] e ] asar ] u]If this analysis is on the right track, it constitutes an additional piece of evidence for the division oflabor between syntax and morphology.
Selected References
Bošković, Željko. 2016. Contextual phasehood and the ban on extraction from complements oflexical heads: When does X become a phase? In Phase Theory and its Consequences, ed. by
Miyoko Yasui and Manabu Mizuguchi, 5-39, Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
Oseki, Yohei. 2017. Voice morphology in Japanese argument structures, Ms. NYU.

On the interpretations of English Cognate Object Constructions
Yoshitomo Oi (Graduate School of Osaka University)
The purpose of this presentation is to clarify the aspectual status of Cognate Object
Constructions (hereafter COCs). Previous studies such as Tenny (1994) and Macfarland(1995) argue that the addition of cognate objects to unergative predicates makes possible
a delimited (or terminative) reading as well as a non-delimited (or non-terminative)
reading. This study, however, illustrates that COCs differ from typical accomplishment
predicates in the behavior of diagnostic tests for telicity, and argues that COCs do nothave the delimited reading.
Previous literature makes use of several test frames in order to state that COCs denote temporally delimited events, but a more careful examination reveals that those tests
do not serve as evidence that COCs have the delimited reading. Horrocks and Stavrou(2010), for example, adopt the in the middle of frame to show that the event denoted by
COCs has both beginnings and ends.
(1) a. ??* Kate was in the middle of smiling knowingly when her husband arrived.
b.
Kate was in the middle of smiling a knowing smile when her husband arrived.
(Horrocks and Stavrou 2010: 297-298; italics mine)
However, their judgment on (1b) is questionable. In fact, my informants judge it as unacceptable because such a situation is difficult to imagine in which a speaker perceives
the process of someone creating a knowing smile. Even if we assume that (1b) is
acceptable, the problem remains. Contrary to their judgment on (1a), the actual use is
attested in which the in the middle of phrase occurs with a simple unergative predicate.
(2)
But in the middle of smiling his face stopped, and was convulsed in a momentwith anguish unspeakable …
(Google Books; italics mine)
In the specific context, (2) denotes the process of making a smile on his face, which issuspended. This actual data suggests that, with or without cognate objects, the in the
middle of frame itself can coerce the delimited reading into the otherwise non-delimited
predicate. Thus, (1b) does not support the argument that COCs have the delimited reading.
Another test for telicity – in-adverbials – is also called into question. Tenny (1994)
shows that COCs can occur with in-phrases as well as for-phrases though, as Tenny
admits, only the former varies in acceptability among speakers.
(3) a.
Mary laughed {for an hour / *in an hour}.
(Tenny 1994: 39)b.
Mary laughed a mirthless laugh {in one minute / for one minute}. (ibid.)
The main issue to be concerned is whether COCs with the in-phrases, if possible at all,are really interpreted in the same way as typical accomplishment predicates with them.
In order to make clear the interpretations, this study adopts a similar test frame called thetake time construction. According to my informants, even though both (4a) and (4b) areless acceptable than (4c), (4a) can be read similarly to (4b), in which the in-phrase states
the point of the occurrence of the event (# represents awkwardness of the interpretation).

Note that this reading is different from that of (4c), in which the in-phrase states the periodof the durative event (cf. Kearns 2011).
(4) a. # It took him a minute to laugh a hearty laugh.
b. # It took him a minute to laugh.
[activity](cf. It took the gallery 1.6 seconds to laugh, …
(Google Books))c.
It took him a minute to make a paper crane / eat an apple. [accomplishment]
Thus, COCs are non-delimited activity predicates rather than delimited accomplishment
ones, regardless of the possibility for in-phrases to occur in COCs. This accounts for theacceptability of for-phrases in COCs.
It should be noted that such an argument that COCs only have the non-delimited
reading does not affect a well-known distinction of the readings of cognate objects: an
event reading and a result reading, as shown in (5).
(5) a.
‘Thinking about it, anyway.’ He smiled a quick smile.
[event reading]b.
Guido smiled a small smile devoid of humor.
[result reading](Höche 2009: 83, taken from British National Corpus)
It is often discussed that the result reading corresponds to the delimited reading (cf.
Nakajima 2006), but it turns out that there is little difference between the result and event
readings concerning the acceptability of the test frames examined in this study. The
confusion of the result reading with the delimited reading arises from the term ‘result’itself. Unlike the referents of typical resultant objects which occur as a ‘result’ of theprocess inherent to the action denoted by the main verb, the referents of cognate objects(e.g. a smile or laugh) occur as soon as the action denoted by the main verbs begins. This
contrast is confirmed by the interpretations of the progressive form. Compare (6a) to (6b).
(6) a.
John was smiling a knowing smile / laughing a mirthless laugh.
b.
John was making a doghouse / digging a hole.
To sum up, COCs only have the non-delimited reading as ascertained by the diagnostic tests for telicity, and this conclusion does not reject the event/result distinction in thereadings of cognate objects, though the term ‘result’ is misleading.
References
Horrocks, Geoffrey and Melita Stavrou (2010) “Morphological Aspect and the Function
and Distribution of Cognate Objects Across Languages,” Lexical Semantics, Syntax, andEvent Structure, ed. by Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron, and Ivy Sichel, 284-308,
Oxford University Press, Oxford. / Höche, Silke (2009) Cognate Object Constructions inEnglish: A Cognitive-Linguistic Account, Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen, Tübingen. /Kearns, Kate (2011) Semantics (2nd edition), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. /Macfarland, Talke (1995) Cognate Objects and the Argument/Adjunct Distinction in
English, Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University. / Nakajima, Heizo (2006)“Adverbial Cognate Objects,” Linguistic Inquiry 37, 674-684. / Tenny, Carol L. (1994)
Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht,
Boston.

The Genitive Case Marker in Azerbaijani
Xiao-Shi Qiu and Hideki Maki
Gifu University
1. Introduction
This paper investigates the distribution of the genitive case marker in Azerbaijani, aTungusic language spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran, and elucidates themechanism that regulates it. We owe all examples used in this paper to Khalida Alizada, anative speaker of the language from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Our findings are as follows.
First, Azerbaijani exhibits the nominative/genitive alternation. Second, in sentences with noovert relative head, headed by qәdәr ‘until,’ for example, the genitive subject is disallowed.
Third, the Transitivity Restriction does not hold. Fourth, the genitive subject is not actually
allowed in embedded clauses, although it apparently seems possible. Fifth and finally, N´deletion is possible. It will be argued that these findings suggest (i) that Azerbaijani andJapanese are more or less identical in the distribution of the genitive case marker, and (ii) thatthe conditions on genitive subject licensing in Mongolian proposed by Maki et al (2016) apply
not only to Mongolian, but also to Japanese and Azerbaijani.
2. Background
This section provides basic syntactic properties of Azerbaijani as background to
subsequent sections. First, Azerbaijani is an SOV language.
(1)
Hәsәn-ødünәnkitab-øaldı.
Hasan-Nom yesterday book-Acc bought‘Hasan bought a book yesterday.’
Second, the genitive case marker is -nin in Azerbaijani.
(2)Әli-nin kitab-ı
Ali-Gen book-PoP.3‘Ali’s book’
Third, a relative clause precedes the head noun in Azerbaijani.
(3)
Dünәn
Hәsәn-ø
alan kitab-ø
bu kitab dı.
yesterday Hasan-Nom bought book-Nom this book be‘The book Hasan bought yesterday is this book.’
3. Data
Let us now examine relevant data in Azerbaijani. First, Azerbaijani exhibits thenominative/genitive alternation, as shown in (3) and (4).
(4)
Dünәn
Hәsәn-inaldı-ğı
kitab-øbu kitab dı.
yesterday Hasan-Gen bought-Adn book-Nom this book be‘The book Hasan bought yesterday is this book.’
Second, in the adjunct clause headed by qәdәr ‘until,’ the genitive subject is not allowed.
(5) *Hәsәn-øyağış-nin dayanana qәdәr otaqda
idi.
Hasan-Nom rain-Gen stop
until room.Loc was‘Hasan was at his office until it stopped raining.’
Third, the Transitivity Restriction does not hold.
(6)Hәsәn-in dünәnkitab-øverdi-yiadam-ø
Әli di.
Hasan-Gen yesterday book-Acc gave.Adn person-Nom Ali be‘The person who Hasan gave a book to yesterday is Ali.’
Fourth, the genitive subject is not allowed in embedded clauses, although it apparently
seems possible. (7) shows that Azerbaijani seems to allow the deep genitive, as the subject inthe embedded clauses is marked genitive.

(7)Hәsәn-in Әli-nin aldı-ğı-nı/*alandüşündü-yü kitab-ø
Hasan-Gen Ali-Gen bought-Adn-Acc/bought thought-Adn book-Nom
bu kitab dı.
this book be‘The book Hasan thought Ali bought is this book.’
Note, however, that this language allows the genitive subject in a non-relative clause, as shownin (8).
(8)Hәsәn-øӘli-nin qayıtdı-ğı-nıdüşünür.
Hasan-Nom Ali-Gen returned-Adn-Acc think‘Hasan thinks that Ali returned.’
Fifth and finally, N´-deletion is possible in Azerbaijani.
(9)
Kim-inmünasibәti pisdir?
who-Gen attitude
bad?
‘Whose attitude is bad?’(10)
Qardaş-ım-ın[N´ münasibәti/e].
brother-my-Gen
attitude‘My brother’s.’
4. Discussion
Let us now consider what the observed facts might suggest for the theory of (Azerbaijani)syntax. First, the findings suggest that Azerbaijani and Japanese are more or less identical in
the distribution of the genitive case marker, although they differ in the Transitivity Restriction
and the availability of genitive subject in the until-clause. The Japanese counterpart of (5) isgrammatical, and the Japanese counterpart of (6) is ungrammatical. The fact that (5) is
ungrammatical in Azerbaijani seems to stem from the fact that the predicate is not in theadnominal form.
Second, the findings suggest that the conditions on genitive subject licensing in Mongolian
proposed by Maki et al (2016) apply not only to Mongolian, but also to Japanese andAzerbaijani.
(11)
Conditions on Genitive Subject Licensing in Mongoliana.
A genitive subject must be c-commanded by a nominal element in a local
domain.
b.
A genitive subject must be in a local relationship with the adnominal form of apredicate.
(11a, b), which were proposed based on the fact that the Mongolian counterpart of (7) shownin (12) is grammatical, properly predict the distribution of genitive subject in the threelanguages.
(12)Baɣatur-øUlaɣan-u
t1 qudaldun-ab-ɣsan/*-ab-čai
gejü
Bagatur-Nom Ulagan-Gen
buy-take-Past.Adn/-take-Past.Con that
bodu-ɣsannom1-bol ene nom.
think-Past.Adn book-Top this book
‘The book which Bagatur thought [that Ulagan bought t] is this book.’
In (12), the subject in the embedded clause is marked genitive only when the predicate is in theadnominal from. The Japanese counterpart of (12) is ungrammatical due to the fact that theembedded predicate cannot take the adnominal form, and the Azerbaijani counterpart of (12) isgrammatical, because (8) is grammatical to begin with, due to the fact that the embedded
predicate is in the adnominal form, which is followed by the accusative case maker, whichsuggests that the predicate is nominalized, and contains a sort of nominal element.

Some Comparative Notes on Obliqueness in Argument Structure
Hsiao-hung Iris Wu (iriswu@ntnu.edu.tw)
National Taiwan Normal University
Overview The distinction between direct and oblique arguments has mostly been explored inmorphologically complex languages, in which information on core/oblique arguments isgenerally revealed by overt morphosyntactic coding. In these languages, for instance, obliquearguments may take a special case or appear marked with an adposition to be distinguishedfrom other arguments. In contrast, identifying arguments as syntactically direct or oblique isoften a problem in languages where very limited properties reflecting the distinction can beobserved. This talk starts by showing that the direct-oblique distinction is encoded in theargument structure of Mandarin Chinese and discusses how the distinction is fleshed out inthe syntax. Comparative remarks are further offered on the generalizability and parametricvariation of the current proposal.
Mandarin and its Goal Arguments in Ditransitives At least two (apparent) double object
constructions can be identified in Mandarin (cf. Tsai 2012, Kuo 2014), though they look
similar in that the agent is the highest argument, generated above the indirect object and direct
object, with the former preceding, and presumably c-commanding, the latter.
(1) a.
b.

Lisi
Lisi
Lisi
Lisi

song-lesent
qiang-lerobbed

wo
me
wo
me

wubai
500
wubai
500

kuai.
dollarkuai.
dollar

‘Lisi sent me 500 dollars.’‘Lisi robbed me of 500 dollars.’

Despite the superficial resemblances, two major differences exist between send-verbs androb-verbs: (I) bound variable anaphora: (2a) shows the quantified goal phrase cannot bind the
pronominal possessor inside the theme phrase as a variable, while the quantified source in(2b) can. (II) passivization: the contrast in (3) reveals that only the source argument can be thesubject of a passive sentence.
(2) a.
b.
(3) a.
b.

*Lisi song-le meigereni tadei hongbao. Intended.‘Lisi sent everyonei hisi cash-gift.’
Lisi sent
everyone his cash-gift
Lisi qiang-le meigereni tadei hongbao. ‘Lisi robbed everyonei of hisi cash-gift.’
Lisi robbed everyone his cash-gift*Wo bei (Lisi) song-le wubai kuai. Intended. ‘I was sent 500 dollars.’I
PASS Lisi
sent
500 dollar
Wo bei (Lisi) qiang-le wubai kuai. ‘I was robbed of 500 dollars.’
boss PASS Lisi robbed 500 dollar

To account for these patterns, I propose as in (4) that Mandarin verbs, in addition to thenumber of arguments, need to specify whether the argument is oblique, which is thecomplement of a phonologically null adposition (cf. Baker 2012). Following Landau (2007), I
further propose this null-headed PP makes it impossible for an oblique argument, such as thegoal argument of ditransitive verbs, to satisfy the EPP property of INFL, thus resisting
appearing in Spec,IP.
(4) a.

Oblique goal arguments are projected as null headed PPs.

b.

In [HP XP [H′ H…]], where XP is merged to satisfy the EPP of H, X must be
pronounced.

Under this view, the fact that the goal phrase fails to bind the theme is expected since it is anoblique argument of null-headed PP structure such that the potential binder (i.e. a universal
quantifier) is embedded within the PP, thus unable to c-command outside of the PP and bindthe bindee (i.e. a pronominal) inside the theme as in (2a). On the other hand, in (2b), since thesource argument is projected as a NP, the pronominal tade ‘his’ can be bound and interpreted
as a variable. Moreover, the resistance of the goal argument to serving as a subject inpassivization like in (3a) can be attributed to the presence of a null P governing the goal.
Parametric Variation Though the obliqueness distinction is attested also in other languages
such as Amharic (Baker 2012), making a goal argument to be oblique seems not to be auniversal rule (e.g. goals in English do allow variable binding into the themes). If we believe
there is certain universality with the role of obliqueness, it is conceivable to assume languages
to be parameterized in terms of which argument to be marked oblique in the lexicon. One
possible relevance is to consider the contrast in (5), which apparently suggests that goalarguments are direct in English while benefactives are oblique such that it cannot be thesubject of passives.
(5) a.
b.

John was given a book.
*John was made a cake. (cf. I made John a cake)

Another candidate for considering the locus of parametric variation is from Japanese. A
Japanese numeral quantifier may float off its host only if the host is a NP (Miyagawa 1989):(6)

Taroo-ga mati-o
futa-tu otozureta.
Taro-Nom towns-Acc 2-CL visited.

‘Taro visited two towns.’

Example (7a) further shows that just as the theme object can be targeted by quantifier float, so
the goal (marked by ni) can allow the numeral quantifier constructed with it to float. Crucially,
the floating numeral quantifier off the source phrase in (7b), is unacceptable. (7) thus suggeststhat goals in Japanese behave as nominals but source do not. Their behavior seems to be theopposite of Mandarin such that goals can be direct but sources are oblique in Japanese.
(7) a.

b.

Taroo-gagakusei-ni
futa-rinimotu-ookutta.
Taro-Nom
students-NI
2-CL
package-Acc
sent‘Taro sent two students a package.’*Hito-gamati-kara
futa-tu kita.
people-Nom
towns-KARA
2-CL
came
Intended: ‘People came from two towns.’ (Taken from Miyagawa & Tsujioka 2004)

Conclusion This study shows that the peculiar properties of goal arguments in Mandarin canbe captured by the proposal that they are oblique and thus null-headed PPs. It also shows that,though a language may not exhibit morphological marking, it can still draw a distinction
between oblique/direct arguments and have corresponding syntax to reflect such a distinction.
Thus obliqueness should be considered a component of argument structure in syntax.