Peripheral effects in Japanese questions and the fine structure of CP

This article concerns the cartography of the left periphery in Japanese, in particular, the distribution of complementizers ka and no that are typically found in questions. I explore the hypothesis that these complementizers are manifestations of distinct functional heads in the C system. In particular, I show that ka instantiates Force, whereas no instantiates Fin(iteness) in Rizzi's (1997) split C system, that does not express the specification of illocutionary force. Once the positional distinction is made between these complementizers, an interesting generalization emerges that no is obligatory in some yes-no questions and questions with reason wh-adjuncts. I argue that the seemingly peculiar interactions between interrogatives and the complementizer with no illocutionary force can be successfully elucidated by adopting the analyses based on the fine structure of CP ( Rizzi, 1997 and Rizzi, 2001). It is shown that the focus in yes-no questions and wh-phrases are licensed by Foc and Force, respectively, which gives rise to the asymmetry between yes-no questions and wh-questions regarding the choice of complementizers. Reason wh-adjuncts naze/nani-o, as opposed to other wh-phrases, require the complementizer no. I suggest that Rizzi's (2001) proposal for positing a special head “Int(errogative)” for ‘why’ can be extended to account for this interaction of naze/nani-o with the complementizer no.

► The particle no found in Japanese questions is without interrogative force.
► No instantiates Fin(iteness), whereas ka instantiates Force.
► The particle no is obligatory for some yes-no questions and reason wh-adjuncts.
► The focus in yes-no questions is licensed by Foc.
► Reason wh-adjuncts and other wh-phrases are licensed by different C heads.