Japanese reflexive zibun and reflexivity theory.

Abstract

This thesis explores the reflexivity approach to zibun-binding. The paradoxical nature of zibun as an anaphor and a pronominal has invited much debate, and the status of zibun is still an unsolved subject in the framework of a standard binding theory proposed by Chomsky (1981). A reflexivity analysis proposed by Reinhart and Reuland's gives a satisfactory account of the Japanese reflexive zibun and its binding behavior. Under their analysis, zibun is categorized as a SE anaphor. The reflexivity refers to the function of marking two arguments of a verb as coreferential. When verbs are reflexive-marked, two arguments are coreferential. Then anti-locality of zibun can be explained with different verb types: one type is verbs which are intrinsically reflexive and the other is verbs which are not reflexive-marked.