Ref Request: Adverbial Scope in Japanese

[GUNJI Takao]

Though I don't have any specific reference, I'd like to point out some
relevant facts.

>>> ryan == ryan at csli.stanford.edu (Ryan Ginstrom) wrote
>>> at Wed, 19 May 1999 14:11:24 -0700 (PDT):

ryan> (1) waza-to 'on purpose' vs. waza-to-rashiku 'seemingly on purpose'

ryan>    a. Kaoru-ga  Masumi-ni  waza-to    korob-ase-ta
ryan>       Kaoru-NOM Masumi-LOC on.purpose fall-cause-PAST
ryan>       'Kaoru made Masumi fall on purpose'

If 'korob' here is to denote a nonvolitional activity, you cannot use
dative marker for the object, as pointed out by Shin-ichi Harada back
in 1973 or so.  Thus, you can only use the accusative 'wo' ('o'):

*Kaoru-ga Masumi-ni korob-ase-ta.
 Kaoru-ga Masumi-wo korob-ase-ta.

So, the only explanation for the occurrence of the dative marker in
(1) above (which sounds acceptable) would be related to something like
the following 'reanalysis':

Kaoru-ga Masumi-ni [wazato korob]-ase-ta.

Which implies that Masumi acted purposefully.  In fact, I get such an
interpretation (as in such a situation where Kaoru is a director and
Masumi is an actress), despite your judgment:

ryan>       Kaoru acted purposefully
ryan>       *Masumi fell purposefully

Thus, a more decisive evidence, if any, would have to involve either the
accusative marker or a volitional verb.

Kaoru-ga Masumi-wo wazato korob-ase-ta.

Kaoru-ga Masumi-ni wazato sippais-ase-ta.
                          fail

My judgment is not so clear, but there seems to be ambiguity as to
the scope.  So, there isn't much difference between 'wazato' and
'wazato rasiku' (which also allows ambiguity) for me.

ryan>    a. Kaoru-ga  Masumi-ni  heiki-ni tabe-sase-ta
ryan>       Kaoru-NOM Masumi-LOC calmly   eat-cause-PAST
ryan>       'Kaoru made Masumi eat calmly'

This is simply ill-formed.  If you want to express the meaning of
'calmly', something like 'sizuka-ni' would be more appropriate.

Kaoru-ga Masumi-ni sizuka-ni tabe-sase-ta.

In this case, the interpretation in which Masumi acted calmly seems
preferable, despite your judgment.

ryan>       Kaoru acted calmly
ryan>       *Masumi ate calmly

If you have 'heiki-de' instead of 'heiki-ni', you get a well-formed
sentence:

Kaoru-ga Masumi-ni heiki-de tabe-sase-ta.

This seems to have only the 'Kaoru acted calmly' interpretation, but
you cannot say 'heiki-de tabe-ru' in the first place. So, this seems
to be related to some kind of semantic mismatch and may not be related
to scope.


In summary, I don't believe there is any principal difference in
terms of scope among these adverbs.


Takao GUNJI
--
Shoin Institute for Linguistic Sciences, Kobe Shoin Women's University
1-2-1 Shinohara Obanoyama, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-0015, JAPAN
TEL: +81-78-882-6186       FAX: +81-78-882-5032