On the Alleged Condition on the Base Verb of the Indirect Passive in Japanese

Copyright 2012 by Tomokazu Takehisa 26th Pacific Asia Conference on Language,Information and Computation pages 254–263 On the Alleged Condition on the Base Verb of the Indirect Passive in Japanese Tomokazu Takehisa Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences 265-1 Higashijima, Akiha-ku, Niigata 956-8603, Japan takehisa@nupals.ac.jp Abstract This paper argues against the view that Japanese indirect passives are restricted with respect to the base verb that they take. Specifically, it argues that, despite its initial plausibility, the oft-proposed generalization that unaccusatives cannot appear in indirect passives is too strong and the alleged distribution is a tendency at most, albeit a strong one. After closely examining the restriction along with the counterevidence discussed in the literature, this paper presents novel empirical evidence against the restriction. Moreover, it also argues that no stipulations specific to indirect passives need to be introduced in accounting for the purported evidence for the unaccusative restriction: pragmatic inferences play a crucial role in deriving the observed aversion to unaccusative- based indirect passives. 1 Introduction Japanese passives have attracted much attention and have been a topic of intense debate due to their peculiar characteristics which present challenges to contemporary linguistic theories. One such characteristic is the existence of two types of passive: direct and indirect passives. Direct passives are passives with the active counterparts, where the passive subject corresponds to an object in the active, as in (1), whereas indirect passives have no such counterparts, as shown in (2).1 (1) Boku-wa sensei-ni home-rare-ta 1SG-TOP teacher-DAT praise-PASS-PST ‘I was praised by the teacher.’ cf. Sensei-ga boku-o home-ta teacher-NOM 1SG-ACC praise-PST ‘The teacher praised me.’ (2) Boku-wa kodomo-ni nak-are-ta 1SG-TOP child-DAT cry-PASS-PST ‘The child cried on me.’ cf. Kodomo-ga (*boku-o/-ni) nai-ta child-NOM 1SG-ACC/-DAT cry-PST ‘The child cried (*me).’ Of the many issues brought up by these two types of passive, it is sometimes proposed that indirect passives are restricted with respect to the base verb they take. Specifically, researchers such as Dubinsky (1985, 1997), Kageyama (1993, 1996) and Washio (1989-90) argue for what we refer to as the unaccusative restriction, which bans unaccusatives from appearing as the base verb of the indirect passive. For instance, Kageyama (1996) presents the following examples in (3) and 1 The following abbreviations are used: 1 = first person, 2 = second person, ACC = accusative, CAUS = causative, COM = comitative, COMP = complementizer, COND = conditional, CONJ = conjunction, DAT = dative, DV = dummy verb, GEN = genitive, IMP = imperative, INCH = inchoative, INST = instrumental, LOC = locative, NEG = negative, NPST = nonpast, PASS = passive, PL = plural, POT = potential, pro = null pronoun, PST = past, SG = singular, STV = stativizer, TOP = topic. 254 (4), whose base verbs are unergatives and unaccusatives, respectively. (3) a. Torakku-ni soba-o hasir-are-ta truck-DAT side-ACC run-PASS-PST ‘The truck ran by my side on me.’ b. Titioya-ni sofaa-de ner-are-ta father-DAT couch-LOC sleep-PASS-PST ‘I was adversely affected by my father sleeping on the couch.’ (4) a. *Seiseki-ni ot-i-rare-ta grade-DAT fall-INCH-PASS-PST ‘My …

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