The lexical semantics of finite control: A view from Japanese

• Published in: Natural language and linguistic theory Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 849 - 896
• Main Authors: Akuzawa, Koyo, Kubota, Yusuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Clauses; Embedded constructions; Grammatical subject; Japanese language; Lexical semantics; Linguistics; Morphemes; Natural Language Processing (NLP); Philosophy of Language; Semantic analysis; Semantics; Social Sciences; Syntax; Tense; Verbs; Word meaning; Control; Finite control; Japanese; Attitude predicate; Lexical semantics; attitude
• ISSN: 0167-806X; 1573-0859
• DOI: 10.1007/s11049-024-09613-9

In this paper, we propose a semantic analysis of control verbs in Japanese that take finite clauses marked by the nominalizer koto . We argue for an analysis in which the invisible subject of the embedded clause is a run-of-the-mill zero pronoun and where the obligatory coreference relation between the controller and the embedded subject is mediated by a primarily semantic factor. At the heart of our analysis lies the idea that there is a common underlying meaning shared across apparently heterogeneous classes of koto -taking control verbs, which consists of a causal relation between a volitional action inherent in the meaning of the verb and a de se attitude denoted by the embedded clause. The semantic analysis we offer not only explains language-internal properties of Japanese control verbs with respect to tense morpheme distribution that have been attributed to syntactic factors in the previous literature, but it also suggests a hitherto unnoticed possible cross-linguistic generalization about finite control and embedded tense interpretation which we dub ‘hypothesis of relative tense in finite control.’