A Theoretical and Empirical Study on Amalgam Constructions in English

• Project/Area Number: 15K02604
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Wakayama University
• Principal Investigator: Matsuyama Tetsuya 和歌山大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (90315739)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
• Keywords: 融合体 / wh融合体 / 透明的自由関係節 / 主語接触関係節 / 主語接触節 / 提示的融合構文 / wh-融合体 / 挿入節

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of our study is to explore syntactic structures of amalgams like wh-amalgams (John ate I don't know what.) and transparent free relatives (TFR) (John is what you call a bookworm.) in terms of Chomsky's (2000) minimalist theory. 　Some of the findings have been published in English Linguistics 32 (p.78-101) under the title“The Syntactic Structure of Wh-syntactic Amalgams”and in English Linguistics 34 (p. 235-265) under the title“Transparent Free Relatives As Specifying Coordination.”The former identifies problems with Kluck's (2011) sluicing analysis of wh-amalgams and proposes an alternative analysis, according to which we consider what to be the head of the whole expression and the rest to be a type of parenthetical. The latter analyzes TFRs as small clauses with the wh-clause and the pivot of the construction mediated by Koster's (2000) colon head. Our analyses successfully account for core properties of the amalgams and overcome difficulties that previous accounts faced.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Transparent Free Relatives As Specifying Coordination (2018)
  • Author(s): Tetsuya Matsuyama
  • Journal Title: English Linguistics Volume: 34 Pages: 235-265
  • NAID: 130007982673
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] On the Syntactic Structure of the Presentational Amalgam Construction (2017)
  • Author(s): Tetsuya, Matsuyama
  • Journal Title: 和歌山大学教育学部紀要 人文科学 Volume: 67 Pages: 121-127
  • NAID: 120006250463
  • Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] A Note on Transparent Free Relatives (2016)
  • Author(s): Matsuyama, Tetsuya
  • Journal Title: 和歌山大学教育学部紀要人文科学 Volume: 66 Pages: 59-67
  • NAID: 120005765547
  • Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] The Syntactic Structure of Wh-syntactic Amalgams (2015)
  • Author(s): Matsuyama, Tetsuya
  • Journal Title: English Linguistics Volume: ３２ Pages: 78-101
  • NAID: 110009794462
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Book] 『<不思議>に満ちたことばの世界（下）』で 「WH融合体」を分担執筆 (2017)
  • Author(s): 松山哲也 (高見健一、行田勇、大野英樹 編)
  • Total Pages: 264
  • Publisher: 開拓社