ABSTRACT
Being an agglutinative language, Japanese abounds in complex predicate constructions, which consist of a verb stem or gerund followed by another morpheme. Japanese passives, te-moraw benefactives, and causatives that are examined in this dissertation also involve complex predicate structures. Recent studies have attempted to reconcile such duality of complex predicate structures. We adopt the insights of these predecessors and assume that the morphological properties of a morpheme and its syntactic function are two different matters, though morphological requirements may interact with syntax. Language is considered as a sign, more precisely a feature structure, which conveys phonological, syntactic, and semantic information. The information concerning the subcategorization of a predicate, for instance, is represented independently of the information concerning semantic roles specified by the predicate, but the two are co-present in the feature structure and can interact. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
