Application of Event Semantics to Qualia Structure of Nouns for Disambiguation of Japanese Postposition No

This paper proposes the elaboration of the qualia structure of the Generative Lexicon in Pustejovsky (1995) and the Extended Generative Lexicon theory (Lenci et al. 2000). I argue that the qualia roles of nouns should be expanded to incorporate Neo-Davidsonian event semantics. My proposal is based on the Japanese genitive postposition no. The Japanese “NP1-no NP2” construction expresses a wider range of relations between two entities than does the English possessive “NP1’s NP2” such that the Pustejovskian qualia roles encoded in NP2 do not cover the necessary relations between two entities, which Vikner and Jensen (2002) succeeded in doing to a certain degree. The genitive phrase modification detects the event argument of nouns other than the deverbal nouns discussed in Larson (1998). 1 Underspecified Meaning of No and Reversal of Possessive Relations The Japanese genitive postposition no “’s/of” is semantically very ambiguous. “NP1-no NP2” not only expresses possession as in Tanaka-no kaban “Tanaka’s bag” and part-whole relation as in Tanaka-no kao “Tanaka’s face,” but also aspects such as location (Tokyo-no shinseki “a relative in Tokyo,” etc.), time (haru-no koen “a park in spring”), accompaniment (kaban-no hito “a lady with a bag”), property, quantity, etc. Note the reversal of the possessor argument: the possessor argument is NP1 in Tanaka-no kaban “Tanaka’s bag” whose possessor argument is Tanaka. On the contrary, the possessor of the bag is NP2 hito “person” in kaban-no hito “a lady with a bag” and there is no English equivalent big bag’s person. In Kaban-no Sanpei “Bags Sanpei,” Sanpei is a bag store, and therefore the possessor of a bag. The controller-controllee relation is also reversed, for example, in Tanaka-no kuruma “Tanaka’s car,” Tanaka is the controller of the car, i.e., NP2 the car is at Tanaka’s disposal as in English the girl’s car (Vikner and Jensen 2002). On the contrary, in boshi-no fujin “the lady with a hat,” NP1 boshi is at the person’s disposal. Aoi-me-no ningyo “the doll with blue eyes,” literally, “blue eyes’ doll” even expresses the part-whole relation in the reverse direction, compared with ningyo-no me “the doll’s eyes.” Such non-canonical relations, i.e., other than those expressing possession or an inalienable part-whole relation, are more likely expressed in noun compounds such as magic land or prepositional phrases using of, in, or with in English (Teramura 1980, Makishita 1984). Table 1 provides some examples of the Japanese “NP1-no NP2” construction found in the BCCWJ2008 edition of Gendai Nihongo Kakikotoba Kinko Corpus “Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese.” In view of the different meanings that the Japanese genitive postposition no conveys, it is obvious that no is semantically light and underspecified with respect to the particular relation between the two entities denoted by NP1 and NP2. 2 Problems with Deriving Various Possessive Relations from NP2 2.1 Relational Nouns Possessive relations are ambiguous in both English and Japanese. Tanaka’s book may refer to the book that Tanaka owns or the book that Tanaka wrote (Barker 1995). Considering such ambiguity, Partee (1983, 1997) assumes two syntactic types for John’s depending on whether or not the following noun is inherently relational. If the following noun Relation Translated preposition Data Translation Event argument or argument of relational nouns I. Argument of ’s Maakamu-kyo-no itoko Sir Malcolm’s cousin cousin-of(m) relational noun shutome-no musuko mother-in-law’s son son-of(m) Amunzen-no na Amundsen’s name name-of(a) of 52 nendo-no nendomatsu end of the 52 fiscal year end of the fiscal year of’(52) kotoshi-no nenmatsu end of this year end of(y) horitsu-no ichibu part of the law part-of(l) for mikanyu-no riyu reason for non-enrollment reason for(n) sentaku-no kikai opportunity to make a choice opportunity-for(s) between kingu wiriamu-to between King William between(n)(k) hokubei-tairiku-no aida Island and North America noun compound nenkin-no gaku pension amount amount-of(p) II. Argument of ’s hahaoya-no kibo mother’s desire λe[desire(e) ∧ agent(e) = mother] deverbal noun of aito-no i expression of one’s regret λe[express(e) ∧ theme(e) = regret] for kisai-no kyoka permission for recording λe[permit(e) ∧ theme(e) = recording] shitsugi-no moshide request for interpellation λe[request(e) ∧ theme(e) = interpellation] Tokyoto-no moshide offer by Tokyo Prefecture λe[offer(e) ∧ agent(e) = Tokyo] by (Tokyo)to-no taio-no shikata how Tokyo Prefecture dealt with λe[deal(e) ∧ agent(e) = Tokyo prefecture] noun compound nenkin-no jukyu pension receipt λe[receive(e) ∧ theme(e) = pension] III. Qualia modification about tsumeshogi-no hon a book about a chess problem λx[book(x) ∧ [TELIC = λe[inform(e) ∧ theme(e) = a chess problem]]] 2sakume-no joho information about the second product λx[info(x) ∧ [TELIC = λe[communicate’(e) ∧ theme(e) = 2]]] noun compound furii-no sofuto free software λ x[software(x) ∧ [TELIC = operate(e) ∧ manner(e) = free]] by Banpresto-san-no sofuto software by Banpresto λx[software(x) ∧ [AGENT =λe[make act(e) ∧ agent(e) = Banpresto]]] IV. Location in otemoto-no insatsubutsu the printed matter at hand λe[be-printed-matter(e) ∧ location(e) = handy] Osuro kogai-no mura a village in the suburbs of Oslo λe[be-village(e) ∧ location(e) = suburban Oslo] Hachioji-shi-no a volunteer group in Hachioji city λe[be-volunteer-group(e) ∧ location(e) = Hachioji-city] borantia guruupu V. Time in katsute-no ikioi force in the past, former influence λe[be-force(e) ∧ time(e) = past] manatsu-no hyozan iceberg in the peak of summer λe[exist-iceberg(e) ∧ time(e) = summer] natsu-no kaidan-jiki horror season in the peak of summer λe[horror season(e) ∧ time(e) = summer] VI. Manner for shooto sutei-no A-ro A, an old man here for a short stay λe[exist-A(e) ∧ manner(e) = for short-stay] in jutai-no Shakuruton Shackleton in a serious condition λe[be-in-serious-condition(e) ∧ manner(e) = be sick seriously] noun compound 5-sai-no onna-no ko a five year old girl λe[be-girl(e) ∧ manner(e) = five-year-old] 9-nin-no esukimo 9 eskimos λe[be-eskimos(e)∧ manner(e) = by 9] Table 1: Data is taken from Gendai Nihongo Kakikotoba Kinko Corpus “Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese” BCCWJ2008 edition published by the Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyujo “The National Institute for Japanese Language” is a non-relational common noun (CN) such as car, John’s composes with car which is regular (et) type, and the relation between John and car is contextually supplied. On the contrary, when John is followed by inherently relational nouns such as brother, employee and enemy, which are (e,et) type with an extra argument slot, the relation between John and his brother in John’s brother inherits kinship from the two-place predicate brother.