Revisiting the structure of nominals in Japanese and Korean

Symmetry in the Asymmetric Universe: Remarks on Kayne (2022)

“…One theoretical implication of the FAH is that the head directionality can be inconsistent between the functional domain (which is predominantly headinitial, as suggested by the LCA and BBC) and the lexical domain (which can either be head-initial or head-final). The prediction finds empirical support from some recent studies on the mixed word order phenomena (Kalin 2014;Simpson 2022). Specifically, Kalin shows that the OVS word order in Hixkaryana involves a head-final direction in the (lexical) A-domain and a head-initial direction in the (function) A'-domain.…”

“…Specifically, Kalin shows that the OVS word order in Hixkaryana involves a head-final direction in the (lexical) A-domain and a head-initial direction in the (function) A'-domain. Simpson (2022) also shows convincingly that the functional projections (demonstrative, numeral, and classifier phrases) in the nominal structures in Japanese and Korean should be analyzed as head-initial functional head, while the lexical projections (nP and NP) are head-final, as illustrated in ( 8):…”

“…he says that Johann the house sell will 'He says that John will sell the house.' (Simpson 2022: 581, citing Grewendorf 1998 However, Abraham (2020) has shown that modals in German in fact behave more like full lexical verbs (they can be inflected for mood and tense, and can be used independently without a lexical verb, etc.). Therefore, what we see in German is actually a head-final lexical (modal) verb dominating another head-final lexical verb.…”

Honorific titles are D

“…Animal names are commonly followed by a title, as in neko chan [cat TITLE] and zoo san [elephant TITLE]. Simpson (2022) recently cast doubt on the across-the-board head-finality in Japanese and Korean nominals and argued that higher functional projections including DP are in fact headinitial. (27b) shows his analysis of (27a).…”