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Scale structure, coercion, and the interpretation of measure phrases in Japanese

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Abstract

This paper investigates the semantics of measure phrases in Japanese. Based on new data, we argue that the interpretation of measure phrases in Japanese is sensitive to scale structure such that (i) measure phrases are introduced by a degree morpheme that selects only for gradable predicates whose scale contains a minimal element (i.e., a lower closed scale) and (ii) violations to this restriction are repaired via coercion, which forces a comparative interpretation with a contextually determined standard and hence a minimal element. We compare the Japanese facts to data in other languages and argue that the requirement of having a minimal element is not specific to Japanese, but universal. We show that languages may vary in how they deal with potential violations of this universal constraint, including coercion of a contextually recoverable derived minimal element (Japanese), ungrammaticality (e.g., Spanish, Korean, Russian), and a hybrid system of ungrammaticality for some adjectives and allowed constraint violation for others (e.g., English, German, Italian).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu City, Mie, 514-8507, Japan

    Osamu Sawada

  2. Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, 1010 E. 59th st., Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Thomas Grano

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  1. Osamu Sawada
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  2. Thomas Grano
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Correspondence to Osamu Sawada.

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Sawada, O., Grano, T. Scale structure, coercion, and the interpretation of measure phrases in Japanese. Nat Lang Semantics 19, 191–226 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-011-9070-1

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