Syntax of Demonstrative Adjectives in Japanese: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

It is argued that demonstrative adjectives like ano (“that”) kono ("this”) and sono (“the or that") occupy the highest Spec position in DP in Japanese, and that they block A-bar movement out of DP. The interactions among demonstrative adjectives, genitive phrases like John-no ("John's"), and WH-words like dare-no ( "whose") are explainable under our proposal.

Keywords

• Japanese language-- Demonstratives
• Japanese language-- Syntax