Lexical Meanings of Ditransitive Verbs in Japanese

Lexical Meanings of Ditransitive Verbs in Japanese Hiroko Kimura Chiba Institute of Technology 2-1-1, Shibazono, Narashino-shi, Chiba 275-0023, Japan kimura.hiroko@p.chiabkoudai.jp Chigusa Morita Toita Women’s College 2-21-17, Shiba, Minato-ku Tokyo, 105-0014, Japan morita@toita.ac.jp Abstract This paper aims to demonstrate that the lexical meanings of major ditransitive verbs (okur- ‘send,’ atae- ‘give,’ and ur- ‘sell’) in Japanese are the same as those of their English counter- parts. Specifically, we will argue that send-type verbs encode both caused motion and caused possession whereas give-type and sell-type verbs encode only caused possession, contra Kishimoto’s (2001) classification of Japanese ditransitive verbs, in which send-type verbs carry only a caused motion meaning whereas sell-type verbs carry both caused motion and caused possession meanings. Based on exam- ples of sluicing, we will also show that send- type verbs have the two argument structures <agent, goal, theme> and <agent, possessor, theme>. Moreover, we will argue that these two argument structures of send-type verbs are in complementary distribution: they cannot be realized syntactically at one time. 1 Introduction This paper examines the ditransitive construction in Japanese, exemplified in (1). (1) Taro-ga Hanako-ni nimotu-o okutta. Taro-NOM Hanako-DAT package-ACC sent ‘Taro sent Hanako a package. / Taro sent a package to Hanako.’ Kishimoto (2001) classifies major ditransitive verbs in Japanese into three types, summarized as (2). (2) Kishimoto’s (2001) classification Verb type Examples Meaning(s) Send-type verbs (verbs of transfer) okur- ‘send’ hakob- ‘carry’ change of location Give-type verbs (verbs of change of possession) atae- ‘give’ teikyosu- ‘offer’ change of possession Sell-type verbs (verbs of transaction) ur- ‘sell’ kas- ‘rent’ change of location or change of possession In this paper, we will argue against Kishimoto’s classification, and show that the lexical meanings of okur- ‘send,’ atae- ‘give,’ and ur- ‘sell’ are the same as those of their English counterparts. Rappaport Hovav and Levin (RH&L) (2008) examine the Eng- lish construction(s) corresponding to (1), which can appear in the double object construction and/or in the to-dative construction, as in (3). They claim that send encodes both caused motion and caused pos- session, whereas give and sell, which are classified in the same type, encode only caused possession, as in (4). (3) a. Taro sent Hanako a package. b. Taro sent a package to Hanako. (4) RH & L’s (2008) classification Verb type Examples Meaning(s) Send-type verbs send mail forward caused motion or caused possession Give-type verbs give sell rent caused possession We will demonstrate that there is no difference be- tween these verbs in Japanese and their English counterparts with respect to their lexical meanings. We classify Japanese ditransitive verbs as in (5), where send-type verbs carry both caused motion and caused possession meanings, whereas give-type verbs and sell-type verbs carry only a caused pos- session meaning. (5) Our classification of Japanese ditransitive verbs Verb type Examples Meaning(s) Send- type verbs okur- ‘send’ hakob- ‘carry’ caused motion or caused possession Give- type verbs atae- ‘give’ teikyosu- ‘offer’ ur- ‘sell’ kas- ‘rent’ caused possession With the semantic classification of ditransitive verbs in (5), we …

Content truncated to 500 words