Analysis of passive sensitivity with Japanese MA adverbs reveals distinct interpretations, suggesting significant syntactic flexibility.
This paper examines the nature of passive sensitivity, focusing primarily on Japanese MA adverbs. We have aimed to test Kubota’s (2015) claim that MA adverbs in Japanese can adjoin at either a high or low position in the structure, yielding both SS and DS interpretations in passives. Using pseudoclefts, we examined whether each reading can be obtained while controlling for the adverb’s adjunction site. Our results provide empirical support for Kubota’s (2015) proposal.
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Miura et al. (2025) studied this question.
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