ANTISYMMETRY AND JAPANESE

Abstract

This paper focusses on certain aspects of the antisymmetry hypothesis of Kayne (1994) and their implications for Japanese. The relation between S-H-C and the question of OV/VO order is discussed. The solidity of the antisymmetry hypothesis is enhanced by some previously undiscussed cross-linguistic gaps, i.e. imaginable language types that appear never to occur. Adpositions are cross-linguistically paired with a K-head; DP-movement to Spec, K and VP-movement to Spec, P/P' cut across prepositional and postpositional languages, in a way different from Kayne (1994). Complementizers are treated briefly.