Similarity to other syntactic categories

According to Iwasaki (2013, 57), the major word classes in Japanese are nouns, nominal adjectives, adjectives, and verbs, whereas the minor word classes consist of adverbs, conjunctions, adnouns, auxiliaries, the copula, particles, affixes, and interjections. Furthermore, particles can be subcategorized into four types: case particles, sentence-final particles, adverbial particles, and conjunctive particles (Hasegawa 2014, 70). Based on their morphological form, it could be easily said that the sentence-final temporal markers do not belong to the syntactic category of verbs and adjectives, since they do not take

various conjugational endings like the non-past tense ending -(r)u and the past tense

ending -ta/da. This means that the following forms do not occur:

(145)

a. *nau-ru / *nau-ta / *na-u / *nat-ta

b.*wazu-ru / *wazu-ta / *waz-u

c.*wi-ru /*wi-ta / *wir-u / *wit-ta

d.*dan-u / *dan-da

e.*suti-ru / *suti-ta / *sutir-u / *sutit-ta

f.*ago-u / *agot-ta / *agō-ru / *agō-ta

(146)

a. *nau-i7 _{/ *nau-ku-na-i / *nau-kat-ta}

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b.*wazu-i / *wazu-ku-na-i / *wazu-kat-ta

c. *wiru-i / *wiru-ku-na-i / *wiru-kat-ta

d. *dan-i / *dan-ku-na-i / *dan-kat-ta

e. *sutiru-i / *sutiru-ku-na-i / *sutiru-kat-ta

f. *agō-i / *agō-ku-na-i / *agō-kat-ta

On the other hand, some data seem to suggest that they can syntactically behave like (adjectival) nouns, as the following examples demonstrate:

(147) Nau-wa Fukuoka, ashita-wa Tōkyō.

now-TOP Fukuoka tomorrow-TOP Tokyo ‘I’m now in Fukuoka and I will be in Tokyo tomorrow.’

(148) Wazu-wa Saga, nau-wa Ōita.

PST-TOP Saga now-TOP Oita ‘I was in Saga and I’m now in Oita.’

(149) Ryūgaku wiru-na hito-tachi

studying abroad FUT-ATT person-PL ‘People who will study abroad’

Nouns in Japanese are known for taking the topic marker wa and adjectival nouns require

-na in order to modify nouns that follow them. In this way, the temporal markers could

be said to possess nominal properties. However, since the frequency of the temporal markers placed in the sentence final position is considerably higher, I will continue to focus on this usage and exclude the non-sentence-final uses from the scope of this thesis. Another category to consider is the class of postpositions. They are known for being placed after nouns, for being unable to stand independently and they tend to be phonetically short. However, the main difference between postpositions and the sentence-

final temporal markers is that the former can take the topic marker wa when placed after

a noun, whereas the latter cannot. This is illustrated by the following examples:

(150) Uchi-de-wa

home-LOC-TOP

meaning (‘trendy, in’) and origin of time, it seems unrelated to the way nau is used. Therefore, nau

38 ‘At home’ (151) Gakkō-e-wa school-ALL-TOP ‘To school’ (152) Yama-kara-wa mountain-ABL-TOP ‘From the mountain’

(153) Goji-made-wa

five o’clock-TERM-TOP ‘Until five o’clock’

(154) *Uchi nau-wa home now-TOP (155) *Gakkō wazu-wa school PST-TOP (156) *Yama wiru-wa mountain FUT-TOP (157) *Goji dan-wa

five o’clock PST-TOP

(158) *Uchi sutiru-wa

home still-TOP

(159) *Gakkō agō-wa

school PST-TOP

However, substituting sentence-final particles for the temporal markers leads to the following results:

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(160) Kaer-u zo.

go home-PRS SFP ‘I am going home.’

(161) Basu-ga ki-ta wa. (with rising intonation)

bus-NOM come-PST SFP ‘The bus has come.’

(162) Ashita yasum-u no. (with falling intonation)8

tomorrow take day off-PRS SFP ‘I am going to take a day off tomorrow.’

(163) Machigaidenwa ka. (with falling intonation)9

wrong number INT ‘So it is a wrong number.’

(164) Mada futsukayoi ne.

still hangover SFP

‘You are still hung-over, aren’t you?’

(165) Kaet-ta yo.

go home-PST SFP ‘He has gone home.’

(166) Kaer-u nau.

go home-PRS now ‘I am going home now.’

(167) Basu-ga ki-ta wazu.

bus-NOM come-PST ‘The bus came.’

8 _{When pronounced with a falling intonation, a sentence ending with no is declarative, but it can be}

turned into a question by pronouncing it with a rising intonation.

9 _{With a rising intonation, the particle ka turns a sentence into a question, but it can also be used}

with a falling intonation when “newly acquired information is not totally incorporated into the speaker’s conceptual world.” (Hasegawa 2014, 293-294)

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(168) Ashita yasum-u wiru.

tomorrow take day off-PRS FUT

‘I will take a day off tomorrow.’

(169) Machigaidenwa dan.

wrong number PST

‘I dialed the wrong number.’

(170) Mada futsukayoi sutiru.

still hangover still

‘I am still hung-over.’

(171) Kaet-ta agō.

go home-PST

‘I got home.’

Although the meaning of the sentences completely changes, these are clear instances in which sentence-final particles can be replaced by the sentence-final temporal markers without losing grammaticality. This shows that they are similar in terms of syntactic distribution. However, unlike sentence-final particles, the sentence-final temporal markers do not carry illocutionary force. This means that they do not head a Speech Act projection, but another projection, which takes up a similar position as SAP within the cartographic structure. Also, since the sentence-final temporal markers have a syntactic distribution similar to sentence-final particles, it could be said that they are outside TP. This also allows them to take scope over the rest of the clause. As the examples in the previous chapters have illustrated, TP is headed by either the non-past tense morpheme -

(r)u or the past tense morpheme -ta. These morphemes determine the tense of a predicate,

as the following examples show:

(172) Haneda-(ni) mukat-te (i)-ru nau.

Haneda-ALL go-CVB be-PRS now ‘I’m heading to Haneda.’

(173) Jikka-kara nimotsu-(ga) todoi-ta wazu!

parental home-ABL package-NOM be delivered-PST ‘A package has been delivered from my parents’ home!’

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(174) Ura-chan-ni bōzasshi-no intabyū-(o) Facetime-de

Ura-DIM-DAT a certain magazine-POSS interview-ACC Facetime-INS

shi-te morat-ta agō.

do-CVB have-PST

‘I had Ura-chan do an interview for a certain magazine through Facetime.’

(175) Sengetsu rekuchā & piano risaitaru-de Nikkei hōru-ni it-ta dan.

last month lecture and piano recital-CAUS Nikkei hall-ALL go-PST ‘Last month, I went to Nikkei Hall because of a lecture and piano recital.’

(176) Rainen-wa yukata-(o) ki-ru wiru.

next year-TOP yukata-ACC wear-NPST FUT ‘I’m going to wear a yukata next year.’

(177) Mada futsukayoi sutiru.

still hangover still

‘I am still hung-over.’

Even without the use of sentence-final temporal markers, it is clear what the tense and the meaning of the above sentences are. This then raises the question how the temporal markers actually function. The above-mentioned data suggest that there is an agreement relation between the conjugational endings on verbs and adjectives on the one hand and the sentence-final temporal markers on the other. This relation is similar to the coherence in temporal features between the predicate and temporal adverbs. This is reflected by the

fact that the non-past endings -(r)u and -i co-occur with nau and wiru, whereas the past

ending (-kat)ta mainly co-occurs with wazu, agō and dan. In this way, the sentence-final

temporal markers reflect the respective tenses. In other words, these expressions are tense agreement markers and head an agreement projection, which mainly selects for TP as its

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