NOMINALIZATION IN THE JAPANESE PREDICATE DOUBLING CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

This paper examines the status of koto and no in the Predicate Doubling Construction in Japanese and shows that they have lost their syntactic status as nominals. This is an example of a nominal element losing its syntactic features through grammaticalization, though still retaining features necessary for morphophonological purposes. It is claimed that the construction is derived via movement of vP or TP and copy spell-out, which in turn suggests that koto and no are inserted for a morphophonological reason.