V-te-miro conditional imperatives are characterized by imperative form and conditional meaning. This form–meaning discrepancy is considered in terms of degrees of modality and subordination. The claim is that V-te-miro conditional imperatives, unlike other imperative forms, have features of a low degree of typical imperative modality and are reanalyzed as converb constructions. This reveals that the conditional implication of V-te-miro conditional imperatives is constructional meaning, whereas that of other types of imperative forms is induced pragmatically. Regarding the correspondence of imperatives and subordinate clauses, the proposed reanalysis of V-te-miro conditional imperatives as converb constructions makes a finer classification on the clausal level and suggests coordinate–subordinate continuity on the sentential level. In addition, the present study can offer a new direction for historical investigations into the evolution of V-V complexes into converb constructions.

This paper argues that Japanese benefactive constructions with (-te) kureru/yaru have the five synchronic variants shown in (1):

(1) Type A: X-ga Y-ni Z-o kureru/yaru (MV)

Type B1α: [X-ga Y-ni_i [Y-ni_i Z-o V] te-kureru/te-yaru] (AuxV)

Type B1β: [X-ga Y-ni [Z-o V] te-kureru/te-yaru] (AuxV)

Type B2: [X-ga […V ] te-kureru/te-yaru] (AuxV)

Type B3: [[ (X ga) …V ] te-kureru/*te-yaru] (AuxV)

These variants can be explained as products of a grammaticalization process (Type A→Type B1α→Type B1β→Type B2→Type B3) based on four semantic/syntactic criteria. This model in (1) can also be applied to the analysis of the benefactive constructions with GIVE verbs in languages like Korean (cwuta), Chinese (gěi), and Marathi (deNe). I propose the following implicational hierarchy to predict the occurrence of possible benefactive construction types in a given language:

(2) Type A < Type B1α < Type B1β < Type B2 < Type B3

Most of the Sino-Korean readings that are attested in Middle Korean (15–16th c.) and are prevalent in contemporary Korean are assumed to have been introduced into Korean from Middle Chinese. Previous literature has reported that even in contemporary Korean dialects with distinctive tonal contrasts, the tonal patterns of Sino-Korean morphemes show regular correspondences with Middle Chinese tones to a certain extent. In this paper, we investigate the accentuation of Sino-Korean words in the South Kyengsang dialect with a comparison of native simplex nouns on the one hand and with Middle Korean accent on the other. The Sino-Korean nouns in South Kyengsang display the same range of accentual contrasts as native simplex nouns, but type frequency differs between the two lexical classes, which leads to distinct default accent classes. There are correlations between segmental type (onset and coda) and accent class in both Middle Korean and South Kyengsang Sino-Korean words, some of which are emergent patterns in the latter. We conclude that the Sino-Korean accent, while being faithful to the historically expected accent as a rule, has frequently been restructured through analogical changes based on four factors: (i) a simple type-frequency effect attracting many words to a default accent class, (ii) identical isolation forms resulting in an ambiguous accentual contrast, (iii) local generalizations based on segment−tone correlations with higher type frequency in the lexicon, and (iv) phonetically natural associations.

This article examines the distribution of the Japanese conjunctive particle to which is duplicated on the final conjunct in a coordinate structure (cf. A-to B-to ‘A and B’). It has been observed in the literature that duplication of the coordinator to, a phenomenon known as conjunction doubling, is possible in coordination in which conjuncts coordinated by to are nominal constituents and also in the so-called ‘non-constituent’ coordination, where conjuncts coordinated by to do not appear to be syntactic constituents (see, e.g., Koizumi 2000, Takano 2002, Fukui and Sakai 2003 for related discussion). Although previous analyses that deal with these constructions commonly assume that the duplicated to, which I refer to in this article as the repetitive coordinator to (RC-to), is realized optionally (cf. Fukui and Sakai 2003, Ito and Chaves 2008, Vermeulen 2008), I show that the distribution of RC-to is more restricted than previously assumed, based on three sets of observations: (i) the inapplicability of ga/no conversion in the presence of RC-to; (ii) the non-occurrence of RC-to in the predicate position of a copular sentence; and (iii) the fact that RC-to exhibits different behavior with respect to two types of focus particles. It is compatible with dake ‘only,’ but not with sae ‘even’ or mo ‘also.’ I also point out that a piece of the presented data is problematic under the analysis of non-constituent coordination as proposed by Vermeulen (2008). Considering these observations, I propose that RC-to is a focus particle that carries an implicature of exhaustivity in a manner similar to dake, and show that this proposal accounts for several previously unidentified properties of RC-to.