Temporal overlap and aspectual auxiliaries in Japanese internally headed relatives

Abstract

This paper challenges the claim that internally-headed relative clauses (IHRCs) are judged (un)acceptable based on pragmatic “relevancy,” as formulated in Kuroda’s (1976) Relevancy Condition. The original formulation of the condition links a simultaneity sub-constraint, but many grammatical IHRCs within the literature directly contradict simultaneity, leading Kuroda to argue that the constraint is often suspended. Counter Kuroda’s claims, this paper argues for the relationship of constraints to be reversed, with pragmatic relevancy subordinate to a main temporal condition. Specifically, I reformulate the simultaneity as a Temporal Overlap Constraint and contextualize it through the analysis of previously problematic IHRCs satisfying the constraint by means of target states. I use novel observations relating to aktionsarten and aspectual auxiliaries to support this approach, making IHRC (un)acceptability much more regular. Moreover, this approach accounts for unique properties of IHRCs, such as incompatibility with negation and “change” IHRCs.