Two types of D-licensing approach to Nominative/Genitive Conversion in Japanese: with some comparative notes on Hitiku and Osaka dialects and Inner Mongolian
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This study discusses two analyses within the D-licensing approach to Nominative/Genitive Conversion (NGC), a phenomenon observed in Altaic languages such as Japanese, Turkish, and Mongolian. Japanese generative grammarians have endeavored to elucidate the case-alternation system, identifying two approaches: D-licensing and C-licensing approaches. The former assumes that the genitive case on the subject DP is licensed by the D-head of the hostmain noun, while the latter assumes that it is licensed by the C-head of the prenominal clause. the a -as Both approaches exhibit advantages and disadvantages; we focus on however, this study focuses on the former approach, study omitting discussion of the latter. A crucial aspect of the D-licensing approach revolves around the size of the prenominal clause, TP. Nevertheless, the traditional D-licensing approach analytical framework encounters challenges when dealing with NGC involved in nominative object constructions. Recently, a new analysis under the D-licensing approach has been proposed, in which the licensor is D, but the size of the prenominal clause is CP. We contend that this novel analysis raises some concerns as a result of the adopted assumptions. Therefore, we propose substituting by them with Chomsky’s labeling algorithm and Saito’s anti-labeling devices method. Additionally, we discuss dialectical variations in NGC, exploring Hitiku and Osaka Japanese, as well as the same drawing parallels with Mongolian.
Source: Acta Mongolica
Author: Naouki Akaso
Institution: Nagoya Gakuin University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4405950580