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Indeterminate Phrase Quantification in Japanese

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This paper examines the question of how so-called indeterminate phrases in Japanese (Kuroda 1965) associate with relevant particles higher in the structure. In the universal construction in Japanese, the restrictor (provided by an indeterminate phrase) sometimes appears to be separate from the universal particle mo. It is proposed that quantification at a distance is only apparent, and that the restriction is in fact provided locally by the sister constituent of mo as a whole. The proposal leads us to a straightforward uniform picture of the syntax-semantics mapping of the universal construction and wh-questions, building upon Hamblin’s (1973) semantics for wh-phrases as sets of alternatives. It allows for a switch of perspective on a long-standing puzzle regarding locality effects in the indeterminate–particle association by deriving the locality pattern from the way indeterminate phrases are interpreted and associated with particles, without any stipulations.

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  1. Department of Linguistics, McGill University, 1085 Dr. Penfield Ave., Montreal, H3A 1A7, Quebec, Canada

    Junko Shimoyama

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  1. Junko Shimoyama
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Correspondence to Junko Shimoyama.

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This paper is partially based on part of my dissertation submitted to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I am most grateful to those who are acknowledged there, and I would in particular like to repeat my gratitude to Angelika Kratzer for discussions, comments and most of all, encouragement. I would also like to thank Kyle Johnson, Bernhard Schwarz, and a reviewer for very useful comments. All remaining inadequacies are my own.

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Shimoyama, J. Indeterminate Phrase Quantification in Japanese. Nat Lang Semantics 14, 139–173 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-006-0001-5

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