Let us start with a very brief overview of the basic structure of verbal sentences. The verb forms the predicate and influences the structure of the sentence. Depending on the lexical type of the verb, the kinds of elements that can co-occur with the predicate verb are different.
3.1.1 The nucleus of the sentence structure
Let usfirst consider the most nuclear part of the structure of a verbal sentence.
(8) Ki ga kare -ta
tree PART/NOM wither.ADVL AUX/PST
‘The tree withered.’
(9) Sensei ga kodomo o nagusame -ta.
teacher NOM child PART/ACC console.ADVL PST
‘The teacher consoled the child.’
(10) Inu ga ayasii otoko ni kamitui -ta.
dog NOM suspicious.ADN man PART/DAT bite.ADVL PST
‘The dog bit the suspicious looking man.’
(11) Hirosi wa Yooko to kekkonsi -ta
Hiroshi PART/TOP Yoko PART/COM marry.ADVL PST
‘Hiroshi got married to Yoko.’
(12) Hirosi wa Yooko ni hanataba o okut -ta
Hiroshi TOP Yoko DAT bouquet ACC send.ADVL PST
‘Hiroshi sent Yoko a bouquet.’
(13) Kaikei ga kaiin kara kaihi o atume -ta treasurer NOM members PART/ABL dues ACC collect.ADVL PST
‘The treasurer collected the dues from the members.’
In a sentence like (8) with the verbkareru‘wither’as the predicate, only a subordinate element marked with the nominativegais necessary for the action expressed by the predicate to be realized. Incidentally, let us here broadly divide sentences by their meaning into action, stative, and attributive. The minimum necessary elements for the action expressed by the verb that is the predicate in example sentences (9) through (13) are as described below. In sentence (9) withnagusameru‘console’as the predicate, a nominativega-marked element and an accusativeo-marked element are necessary, and in (10) withkamituku‘bite’as predicate, a ga-marked element and a dativeni-marked element are necessary. In (11) withkekkonsuru‘get married’ as predicate aga-marked element and a comitativeto-marked element are needed, and in (12) withokuru‘send’as predicate, aga-marked, ano-marked, and ani-marked element are necessary. In (13) withatumeru‘collect’as predicate, aga-marked, an o-marked and an ablativekara-marked element are necessary.
As seen above, for a verb functioning as predicate to realize the action its lexical meaning expresses requires that the predicate co-occur with noun phrases or noun- like elements having a lexically determined case relationship. In Nitta (2010), the noun-like elements that are required to co-occur with the predicate verb are termed case elements or co-occurring elements (actants). In other words, when a verb be- comes a predicate and forms a sentence, in order to realize the action it expresses, it acts to selectively require a set of actants that participate in the realization of that action. [N-ga], [N-ga, N-o], [N-ga, N-ni], [N-ga, N-to], [N-ga, N-o, N-ni], [N-ga, N-o, N-kara], and the like are combinations of cases required by the verbs.
The most basic predicate sentence is a simple sentence composed of one clause.
A simple sentence expresses a single event. The framework for the event expressed by the sentence is made up of the predicate word, or more accurately, the stem portion that carries the lexical meaning of the predicate word, and a set of case-marked elements. Accordingly, the most core part of the structure of a predicate sentence is formed of the stem portion of the predicate word and the set of case-marked ele- ments. If we show the most core part of sentence (9)Sensei ga kodomo o nagusameta
‘The teacher consoled the child,’it would be as shown below.
(14) [[Sensei ga kodomo o nagusame]ta]
The part appearing enclosed in the inner square brackets in (14) is the most core part of the structure of a verbal predicate sentence.
3.1.2 Expanding the core
The framework of an event, and therefore the core part of the structure of a sentence, expands and grows through the addition of grammatical categories the predicate
takes and elements that characterize or restrict how an event is realized. Here, we will examine the addition of elements that characterize how an event is realized. Among the elements that, in a broad sense, characterize how an event is realized, there are those that refer to the nature of aspects internal to the event and those that are related to the temporal realization of the event.
(15) Kabin ga konagona.ni ware -ta.
vase NOM into.smithereens break.ADVL PST
‘The vase broke into smithereens.’
(16) Sensei ga kodomo o yasasiku nagusame ta.
teacher NOM child ACC gently console.ADVL PST
‘The teacher gently consoled the child.’
Thekonagona.niin (15) shows the state of the subject as a result of the action. The yasasikuin (16) shows the manner of the action as it progresses. By restricting some aspect internal to the action of the event, these both characterize how an event is realized. (15) can be categorized as an element modifying the result of the action and (16) as an element modifying the manner of the event.
Next, let us examine elements expressing the temporal circumstances of the event.
(17) Kare wa nanzikan mo hon o yon -da.
he TOP any.number.of.hours PART book ACC read.ADVL PST
‘He read books for hours on end.’
(18) Otoko wa sugu genba ni kaketuke -ta.
man TOP immediately scene LOC hasten.ADVL PST
‘The man immediately hastened to the scene.’
Thenanzikan moin (17) show how much time the event occupied as it took place.
The sugu in (18) shows how long it took for the event to begin. Both of these are related to aspect and refer to temporal characteristics internal to the event and thus characterize how the event is realized. Let us call these time-related modifying elements.
The structure of the sentence causes the participants in the event to appear as case-marked elements; the core portion is formed of the predicate word and the case-marked elements, and, through the addition of elements describing how the event is realized, expands and grows. A sentence expanded in this way can be further expanded by the addition of information about the frequency of the event’s occurrence.
(19) Sensei wa yoku kodomo o yasasiku nagusame -ta.
teacher TOP often child ACC gently console.ADVL PST
‘The teacher often gently consoled the child.’
(20) Kare wa tokidoki nanzikan mo
he TOP sometimes any.number.of.hours PART
hon o yon -da.
book ACC read.ADVL PST
‘He would sometimes read books for hours on end.’
Theyokuin (19) and thetokidokiin (20) are elements that show information regard- ing the frequency with which the events occurred. These are called frequency modi- fying elements. Frequency modifying events do not characterize how an event is realized in terms of aspects internal to the action of the event. They describe from outside the event how many times the event occurred in a fixed period of time.
Through the addition of a description of the frequency of an event’s occurrence, the content expressed by the sentence becomes even richer. In this way, the core part of the sentence structure is expanded and grows even more.
The case-marked elements are the elements that participate in the realization of the event and make it happen. Their number is restricted and determined by the type of the event. Due to the fact that they are few in number and are limited, the occurrence of the participants in the formation of the event is obligatory, whether or not they actually appear in the sentence as it is expressed. By obligatory is meant that they are indispensable for the semantic realization of the event. If the partici- pants are missing, the event is semantically incomplete. In contrast to these actants, elements describing how an event occurs are numerous and cannot be specified in advance. Their occurrence in the expression of the event is supplementary and optional. Compared to the case-marked elements, which are obligatory elements, the modifying elements are supplementary elements.
An event also occurs against an external background and circumstances. Let us call the elements that express the external background and circumstances of the occurrence of the event situational elements. Representative situational elements are those like the following.
(21) Sakuya kare wa boku no ie ni kossori yatteki -ta.
last.night he TOP I GEN house LOC secretly come.ADVL PST
‘Last night he secretly turned up at my house.’
(22) Mokuyoobi Hirosi wa Takesi ni at -ta.
Wednesday Hiroshi TOP Takeshi DAT meet.ADVL PST
‘Wednesday, Hiroshi met Takeshi.’
The sakuya in (21) and the mokuyoobi in (22) show the time when the event happened. This kind of situational elements that the the external background of the time of an event’s occurrence are called temporal situational elements. If the content expressed by the sentence is a dynamic event, the event happens at a certain time and at a certain place. Temporal situational elements are representative situational elements. Temporal situational elements are related to tense. Through the addition of the manner of an event’s realization and the external background of the time and place situational elements to the framework of an event, its content becomes even richer and the structure of the sentence expands and develops.
The elements that expand the content expressed by the sentence, that provide the manner of the event’s realization and the external background to the event’s occurrence, may or may not appear in the sentence as it is actually uttered. The expression of such is optional. In contrast, the possibility of the appearance of the grammatical categories that the predicate takes increases as the sentence structure gradually expands the layers from the core part. In other words, through the expan- sion of the layers, the grammatical categories that must appear are determined. The appearance of grammatical categories the predicate word takes becomes obligatory or restricted together with the steps in the expansion of the sentence structure.
3.1.3 The layeredness of the expansion elements
The framework formed by the action expressed by stem portion of the predicate word and the participants whose participation is necessary for its realization is expanded optionally and supplementarily by the modification elements characterizing how the action takes place or how the event develops. To this, information on the frequency with which the event occurs is optionally added and the content of the event expands more. The expressed content of the event can be further expanded with the addition of the external circumstances of the time of the event’s happening.
(23) Anokoro kare wa yoku nanzika .mo
those.days he TOP often any.number.of.hours PART
nessin.ni hon o yon -da.
earnestly book ACC read.ADVL PST
‘Those days he often used to earnestly read books for hours on end.’
In (23) the part that can be written as [kare ga hon o yomu] is pretty much the frame- work of the event the sentence expresses and thus forms the core part of the struc- ture of (23). This core part is expanded with the manner modifying elementnessin.ni showing how the event is realized and further with the time-relation modifying ele- mentnanzikan mo. In addition, it is expanded with the frequency modifying element
yoku and, finally, is expanded with the temporal situation element anokoro. The expansion elements in (23) are in the embedding relation [anokoro[yoku[nanzikan.mo [nessin.ni]]]]. That is, the manner modifying element is contained within the time- relation modifying element, both are then contained within the frequency modifying element, and then all of them are then embedded within the temporal situation element. These relations can be summarized as below.
(24) [time [frequency [temporal relations [manner–event]]]]
The elements that expand the core of a sentence’s structure are not arranged at the linear level but are arranged in a layered structure as shown in (24).