The morphology and interpretations of gradable adjectives in Japanese

Abstract

There has been a debate concerning the categorial status of nominal adjectives in Japanese (na-adjectives), since they exhibit several properties of both canonical adjectives (k-adjectives) and nouns. Although properties of each category have been observed, there has been no cross-categorial approach to the differences among these elements. This paper demonstrates that the theory of scale structures proposed by Kennedy and McNally (2005) captures various morphological realizations of prenominal modifiers in Japanese. First, maximum-standard adjectives with lower closed scales and adjectives with upper closed scales tend to be realized as na-adjectives. Second, relative adjectives tend to be k-adjectives. Third, non-gradable modifiers are realized as nominal modifiers (no-adjectives). There are also some cases where relative "adjectives" and maximum-standard "adjectives" with scales whose lower end is closed are realized as no-adjectives. These observations reveal a tendency for a certain scale type to have a certain morphological form of adjectives in Japanese.