Question

Consider the following example which shows the order of NPs and prepositions in Japanese PPs.

(1) kono kodomo to this child with "with this child"
(2) * to kono kodomo (the star * means that this is ungrammatical)
a. Write a lexical entry for each word in the Japanese phrase in this example. b. Write a phrase structure rule that allows the construction of PPs out of prepositions and NPs in Japanese. c. Construct a phrase structure tree for the Japanese phrase sono hito to "with that person".

Answer 1

a. Lexical entries for the words in the Japanese phrase in the example are:

kono: demonstrative pronoun "this"

kodomo: noun "child"

to: preposition "with"

b. A phrase structure rule for PPs in Japanese could be:

PP → P NP

Where PP represents a prepositional phrase, P represents a preposition, and NP represents a noun phrase.

c. Here is a phrase structure tree for the Japanese phrase "sono hito to" ("with that person"):

PP

___|___

| |

P NP

| |

"with" "that person"

In this tree, "sono hito" ("that person") is the NP, and "to" is the preposition that forms the PP. The PP is attached to a higher structure in the tree, such as a sentence or a larger phrase.