Remarks on Possessor Honorification in Japanese

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether the percolation analysis of possessor honori-fication in Japanese is correct. I will argue that this analysis makes a wrong prediction concerning aru/iru alternation in Japanese. I will then propose that an NP which is marked as a [-human] is transparent to agreement in Japanese. As a consequence, I will show that Boeckx and Niinuma's (in press) analysis of honorific agreement cannot be maintained.