The Bound‐Variable Interpretation in Child Japanese: The Implicit Variable, the Anaphor Zibun, and Stripping Structures with Case Markers

Abstract

Abstract. This paper examines how Japanese‐speaking children interpret implicit variables and the anaphor zibun‘self’ when both are concerned with referential and quantificational subjects and antecedents in conjoined stripping structures with a case marker. In previous studies on the availability of sloppy readings in child Japanese, it has been unclear whether the attested sloppy reading really stems from LF copying of linguistic antecedents. Those studies employed null object and soo‐su‘do so’ constructions; however, there is debate about whether these constructions are instances of surface or deep anaphora. To show whether Japanese‐speaking children have unambiguous accessibility to bound‐variable or sloppy interpretations in the grammar of Japanese, I did three experiments using a stripping construction with a case marker, which is considered to involve LF copying of linguistic antecedents (Fukaya & Hoji 1999). It has been shown that Japanese‐speaking children are able to associate implicit variables and zibun as a bound variable with referential and quantificational antecedents and that sloppy readings are available in child Japanese. This study provides evidence that, in both child and adult grammars, the Japanese stripping construction with a case marker involves LF copying of an antecedent IP and is therefore an instance of surface anaphora.