Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica

Japanese Gapless Cleft Sentences: What Are They And How Are They Licensed?

AUTHOR

Matsuda Tatsuhiro

ABSTRACTS

The aim of this paper is to propose that Japanese has what we should call gapless cleft
sentences, contrary to the widely held view that Japanese cleft sentences must have gaps
in their presupposition clauses. Furthermore, I propose that it is because of the lack of
determiners and complementizers in the lexicon that Japanese has gapless cleft sentences.
On the other hand, English does not have gapless cleft sentences, and this is due to the
presence of determiners and complementizers in its lexicon.