Syntactic underspecification and light-verb phenomena in Japanese

This paper explores the consequences of unspecified syntactic features for an analysis of Japanese light-verb constructions. In Japanese, θ-assigning nouns (verbal nouns or VNs) combine with the light verb suru (do) to form hundreds of clausal predicates. A VN can appear adjacent to suru and caseless, or be marked with accusative case. In the second instance, the VN may or may not form a constituent with one of its complements. Prior research into the syntax of these constructions has focused on (i) whether the relationship between the VN and the light verb is derived in the lexicon or is established in the syntax, and (ii) if the latter, whether the several constructions involving VNs are syntactically related. The position adopted here is that VN-plus-suru combinations are syntactic, and further that the extraordinary syntactic behavior of VNs, as well as their ability to generate three superficial structures from a single underlying form, is attributable to their categorial features [N] or [V] remaining unspecified in the lexicon