On the case marking system of Japanese motive verbal predicate sentences

Abstract

Some Japanese motive verbal predicates allow the following types of noun phrase exchanges, preserving cognitive meaning of the sentence
(a) ga-noun phrase and ni-noun phrase (of intransitive sentence) eg. tama-ga mato-ni ataru. mato-ga tama-ni ataru. ball-NOM target-DAT hit target-NOM ball-DAT hit ‘The ball hits the target.’‘The ball hits the target.’
(b) ga-noun phrase and kara-noun phrase (of intransitive sentence) eg. wana-ga, usagi-kara hazureru.
trap-NOM rabit-ABL separate
‘The trap separates from the rabit.’
usagi-ga wana-kara hazureru.
rabit-NOM trap-ABL separate
‘The trap separates from the rabit.’
(c) wo-noun phrase and ni-noun phrase (of transitive sentence) eg. tama-wo mato-ni ateru. mato-wo tama-ni ateruball-ACC target-DAT hit target-ACC ball-DAT hit ‘hit the ball against the target.’‘hit the ball against the target.’
(d) wo-noun phrase and kara-noun phrase (of transitive sentence) eg. wana-wo usagi-kara hazusu.
trap-ACC rabit-ABL separate
‘separate the trap from the rabit.’
usagi-wo wana-kara hazusu.
rabit-ACC trap-ABL separate
‘separate the trap from the rabit.’
For all I know, there have been virtually no papers dealing with this phenomenon. So I have tentatively called it ‘hit ball hypallage’ and investigated the case marking system of these highly symmetrical verbal predicate sentences.