Prosody and Quantifier Float in Japanese

Kenji Yokota

College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/ojml.2013.31011                

Abstract

The paper investigates the information structure that licenses the Japanese floating numeral quantifier (FNQ) in terms of prosody and context from the point of view that the pitch reset on the FNQ affects the information structure and plays a crucial role in determining the interpretation of the FNQ. I will show that FNQ sentences are potentially ambiguous between an event-quantifier reading (i.e., a VP-related FNQ reading), and an object-quantifier reading (i.e., an NP-related FNQ reading) where such a reading is possible. The syntactic and semantic difference yields distinct prosodic phrasings (in accordance with information-structure) which contribute to the disambiguation of the two readings (and hence the grammaticality).

Keywords

Floating Numeral Quantifiers; Japanese; Prosody; Syntax; Information Structure

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Féry, C., & Ishihara, S. (2009). How focus and givenness shape prosody. In M. Zimmerman, & C. Féry (Eds.), Information structure (pp. 36-63). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]	Fitzpatrick, J. (2006). The syntactic and semantic roots on floating quantification. Doctoral Dissertation, Cambridge: MIT.
[3]	Fodor, J. (2002). Prosodic disambiguation in silent reading. In M. Hirotani, (Ed.), Proceedings of NELS 32 (pp. 113-132). Amherst: GLSA Publications.
[4]	Fujita, N. (1994). On the nature of modification: A study of floating quantifiers and related constructions. Doctoral Dissertation, Rochester: University of Rochester.
[5]	Gunji, T., & Hasida, K. (1998). Measurement and quantification. In T. Gunji, & K. Hasida, (Eds.), Topics in constraint-based grammar of Japanese (pp. 39-79). Amsterdam: Kluwer.
[6]	Ishihara, S. (2011). Japanese focus revisited: Freeing focus from prosodic phrasing. Lingua, 121, 1870-1889. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2011.06.008
[7]	Ishii, Y. (1998). Floating quantifiers in Japanese: NP quantifiers, VP quantifiers, or both? Researching and Verifying an Advanced Theory of Human Language, 2, 149-171.
[8]	Ishii, Y. (1999). A Note on floating quantifiers in Japanese. In M. Muraki, & E. Iwamoto, (Eds.), Linguistics: In Search of the Human Mind—A festschrift for Kazuko Inoue (pp. 236-267). Tokyo: Kaita kusha.
[9]	Kitagawa, Y., & Kuroda, S. (1992). Passives in Japanese. Master’s Thesis, San Diego: University of Rochester and University of California.
[10]	Kitagawa, Y., & Fodor, J. D. (2006). Prosodic influence on syntactic judgments. In G. Fanselow, C. Fery, R. Vogel, & M. Schlesewsky (Eds.), Gradience in Grammar (pp. 336-358). Oxford: Oxford Uni versity Press.
[11]	Kobuchi, M. P. (2003). Distributivity and the Japanese floating quantifier. Doctoral Dissertation, New York: The City University of New York.
[12]	Kobuchi, M. P. (2007). Floating numerals and floating quantifiers. Lingua, 117, 814-831. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2006.03.008
[13]	Kubozono, H. 1993. The Organization of Japanese Prosody. Kuroshio Publishers.
[14]	Ladd, R. (1996). Intonational Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[15]	Maekawa, K. (1991). Perception of intonational characteristics of wh and non-wh questions in Tokyo Japanese. In Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 202-205). Provence, France: Université de Provence.
[16]	Miyagawa, S., & Arikawa, K. (2007). Locality in syntax and floating numeral quantifiers. Linguistic Inquiry, 38, 645-670. doi:10.1162/ling.2007.38.4.645
[17]	Nagahara, H. (2004). Phonological phrasing in Japanese. Doctoral Dissertation, Los Angeles: University of California.
[18]	Nakanishi, K. (2004). Event quantification and distributivity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
[19]	Nakanishi, K. (2007). Formal properties of measurement constructions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
[20]	Nakanishi, K. (2008). The syntax and semantics of floating numeral quantifiers. In S. Miyagawa, & M. Saito (Eds.), The Oxford hand book of Japanese linguistics (pp. 287-319). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[21]	Oshima, D. Y. (2007). Boundary tones or prominent particles? Variation in Japanese focus marking contours. Berkeley Linguistics Society (BLS), 31, 453-464.
[22]	Pierrehumbert, J. B., & Beckman, M. E. (1988). Japanese Tone Struc ture. MA: MIT Press.
[23]	Selkirk, E. (1995). Sentence prosody: Intonation, stress and phrasing. In J. A. Goldsmith (Ed.), The handbook of phonological theory (pp. 550-569). Oxford: Blackwell.
[24]	Selkirk, E., & Tateishi, K. (1991). Syntax and downstep in Japanese. In C. Georgopoulos, & R. Ishihara (Eds.), Interdisciplinary approaches to language: Essays in honor of S.-Y. Kuroda (pp. 519-543). Am sterdam: Kluwer.
[25]	Steedman, M. (2000). The syntactic process. MA: MIT Press.
[26]	Sugahara, M. (2003). Downtrends and post-focus intonation in Japanese. Doctoral Dissertation, Amherst: University of Massachusetts.
[27]	Takami, K. (1998). Nihongo no suuryooshi yuuri nitsuite: Kinooron teki bunseki [On quantifier floating in Japanese: A functional analysis]. Gekkan gengo [Language] 27(1), 86-95; 27(2), 86-95; 27(3), 98-107. Tokyo: Taishukan.
[28]	Tancredi, C. (2005). Plural predicates and quantifiers. In N. Imanishi (Ed.), Gengo kenkyuu no uchuu [The World of linguistic research: A Festschrift for Kinsuke Hasegawa on the occasion of his seventieth birthday] (pp. 14-28). Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
[29]	Venditti, J. J., Maekawa, K., & Beckman, M. E. (2008). Prominence marking in the Japanese intonation system. In S. Miyagawa, & M. Saito (Eds.), Handbook of Japanese linguistics (pp. 458-514). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[30]	Yamamori, Y. (2006). Nihongo no genryoo hyoogen no kenkyuu. Tokyo: Kazama shoboo.
[31]	Yokota, K. (2009). On numeral floating quantifier in Japanese. In H. Hoshi (Ed.), The Dynamics of the language faculty: Perspectives from linguistics and cognitive neuroscience (pp. 85-109). Tokyo: Kuroshio Publishers.
[32]	Yokota, K. (2010). Prosody and quantifier float. In S. Pogodalla (Ed.), Actes des 8 èmes journées sémantique et modélisation (pp. 49-51). Nancy, France: INRIA Nancy-Grand Est.
[33]	Yoshimoto, K. et al. (2006). Processing of information structure and floating quantifiers in Japanese. In T. Washio et al. (Eds.), JSAI 2005 Workshops, LNAI 4012 (pp. 103-110). New York: Springer-Verlag.