Abstract
The two syntactic forms illustrated in (1), i.e. [NP-ni NP-wo V] and [NP-wo NP-de V] sometimes describe similar events. This phenomenon is referred to as 'locative alternation'.(1) a. kabe-ni penki-wo nuru [NP-ni NP-ivo V] wall-on paint-ACC smear 'smear paint on the wall' b. kabe-wo penki-de nuru [NP-wo NP-de V] wall-ACC paint-with smear 'smear the wall with paint' Pointing out that there is another pattern of alternation as illustrated in (2), this paper first argues that the semantic roles of the NPs are not relevant to the determination of these alternation patterns.(2) a. kami-ni hon-wo kurumu [NP-ni NP-wo V] paper-in book-ACC wrap 'wrap the book in paper' b. hon-wo kami-de kurumu [NP-wo NP-de V] paper-ACC book-with wrap 'wrap the book with paper' The paper then proposes that whether sentences are subject to the alternation pattern of (1) or that of (2) is actually determined in a different, subsidiary level of verb meanings from the one where the semantic roles are assigned to the NPs.
