QUANTITY SUPERLATIVES IN JAPANESE - flov.gu.se · be on quantity superlatives, ... the form of an adjective inflected or modified to the middle degree is called the comparative degree,

INSTITUTIONEN FÖR FILOSOFI, LINGVISTIK OCH VETENSKAPSTEORI

QUANTITY SUPERLATIVES IN

JAPANESE

A study of the many + est and est-movement theories in the Japanese language

Amelie Åstbom

Uppsats: 7,5 hp

Program och/eller kurs: LI1201 Lingvistik Fortsättningskurs

Nivå: Grundnivå

Termin/år: VT 2016

Handledare: Elizabeth Coppock

Examinator: Pauli Kortteinen

Contents

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3

2. Method and Material ........................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Materials and Design ..................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Informants ..................................................................................................................................... 4

3. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Degrees of Comparison and Absolute versus Relative Readings .................................................. 5

3.2 Proportional versus Relative Readings and further distinctions .................................................... 5

3.2.1 Table: Construction and Translation of Comparison of Superiority/Inferiority ..................... 7

4. Data and Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 8

4.1 Proportional Quantity Superlatives ............................................................................................... 8

4.2 Relative Superior and Inferior Quantity Superlatives ................................................................. 11

4.3 Superior and Inferior Comparatives and Positives ...................................................................... 15

4.4 Quality Superlatives .................................................................................................................... 18

5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 20

6. Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 21

References ............................................................................................................................................. 22

3

1. Introduction

There has been much debate concerning superlatives and the absolute and relative readings

that can be derived from superlative constructions. Some researchers hold that the superlative

morpheme -est is DP-internal, i.e. in situ, and that different readings are generated by the

context (Farkas & Kiss 2000, Sharvit & Stateva 2002) while others claim that -est moves and

can be both DP-internal and DP-external and that the ambiguity depends on the location of -

est (Heim 1985, 1999, Szabolcsi 1986, i.a.).

One supporter of the est-movement theory is Masahiko Aihara (2009), who in his paper

The scope of -est: evidence from Japanese argues that superlative constructions in Japanese

support the theory by allowing overt est-movement in a manner that does not appear overtly

in the English language. Aihara (ibid.) claims that DP-internal -est allows for both absolute

and relative readings in Japanese but that DP-external -est only allows for relative readings.

These theories are mainly based on quality superlatives but claims made by Hackl

(2009) suggest that the theories may also extent to cover quantity superlatives. In On the

grammar and processing of proportional quantifiers: most versus more than half Hackl

opposes the view of the proportional quantifier most as a lexical item and proposes that most

is instead the superlative of many composed of the degree function many and the degree

quantifier -est (ibid.).

Combining these views, it should be possible to make some predictions about the

behavior of quantity superlatives in Japanese. The quantity superlatives would be expected to

appear as constructions combining many and -est and movement of -est might appear in

sentences containing quantity superlatives with exclusively relative readings.

This paper aims to investigate data from native Japanese speakers and make an attempt

to evaluate the data in the light of the previously mentioned predictions. The main focus will

be on quantity superlatives, with quality superlatives and quantity comparatives and positives

to provide contrast. Firstly, the important terms and distinctions will be presented to provide a

solid background for this study. Following that the results will be presented with commentary

and lastly the results will be discussed in light of the predictions made. The results of the

study were not in agreement with the predictions made based on previous research and

brought up interesting questions about the strategies of forming quantity superlatives in

Japanese.

4

2. Method and Material

2.1 Materials and Design

The data analyzed in this paper was collected using a questionnaire created by Elizabeth

Coppock. The sentences in the questionnaire are written in English to form a short story and

the informants are asked to translate the sentences as literally as possible while keeping them

sounding natural. Out of the 17 questions, 10 questions contain quantity superlatives and the

remaining questions are divided over quantity comparatives, quantity positives and quality

superlatives.

The sentences are also mixed in regards to mass/count, proportional/relative readings

and superior/inferior comparisons. This is done to elicit potential differences that may exist

within a language when using degrees of comparison in different situations. An example of

this is how the Swedish language uses the quantity superlatives flest and mest for relative

readings of superlatives with count and mass nouns respectively.

The sentences are presented as a short story, which means that there is no particular

order with regards to what kinds of superlatives, comparatives or positives they contain.

When presenting and analyzing the data the informants' answers have sometimes been

grouped for simplicity when the translations were found to be nearly or completely identical.

2.2 Informants

Four native speakers of Japanese participated in the study. Three of the informants

participated through the use of the online questionnaire and one filled out a printed version of

the questionnaire. No interviews in person were conducted but a few follow-up questions

were asked following analysis of the data for clarification in some cases.

5

3. Background

3.1 Degrees of Comparison and Absolute versus Relative Readings

Adjectives can be both gradable and non-gradable. The gradable adjectives can be subject to

comparison and be inflected to form comparative and superlative forms. The form an

adjective has when it is not inflected or modified for comparison is called the positive degree,

the form of an adjective inflected or modified to the middle degree is called the comparative

degree, and the form of an adjective inflected or modified to the third and highest degree is

called the superlative degree (McArthur, 1992).

Quality superlatives have been observed by Szabolcsi (1986) and Heim (1999) to have

two different readings. Using a sentence such as 'John climbed the highest mountain' the

absolute reading of this sentence would mean that John climbed Mount Everest, the highest

mountain in the world. The relative reading of the sentence would mean that John climbed

the highest mountain among a certain set of people who climb mountains. The absolute

reading compares all mountains and the relative reading compares the relevant mountain-

climbing people and the mountains they have climbed.

3.2 Proportional versus Relative Readings and further distinctions

In a paper investigating proportional quantifiers, Hackl (2009) made some interesting claims

concerning the quantifiers most and fewest and provides evidence from German that these

quantifiers are, in fact, the superlatives of many and few and holds that the same generalizition

is true of English. The evidence points to most and fewest being subject to the same

environmental factors that influence superlatives and bring about the "absolute" and "relative"

interpretations. An important difference, however, is that the quantity superlatives most and

fewest display significant differences to quality superlatives with respect to the "absolute"

reading. In the situations where the "absolute" reading is available most generates a

proportional reading and fewest is unacceptable.

The following examples in German from Hackl (2009) will serve to explain the absolute

and relative readings, as well as the proportional reading generated by most and the lack of a

proportional reading for fewest.

6

(1) John hat den höchsten Berg bestiegen.

John has the highest mountain climbed

a. (relative-superlative) 'Among the relevant people, John climbed a higher mountain

than anybody else.'

b. (absolute-superlative) 'John climbed Mount Everest.'

In (1) the absolute reading is the reading where all (relevant) mountains are compared and the

relative reading is comparing the mountains climbed by relevant people in the context.

(2) John hat die meisten Bücker gelesen.

John has the most books read

a. (relative-superlative) 'John read more books than anybody else.'

b. (proportional) 'John read more than half of the books.'

In (2) the relative reading compares the number of books John has read to the number of

books read by relevant people. However, the proportional reading generated in place of the

absolute expresses that John has read most of the books out of a given set of books.

(3) John hat die wenigsten Bücker gelesen.

John has the fewest books read

a. (relative-superlative) 'John read fewer books than anybody else.'

b. (*proportional) *'John read less than half of the books.'

In (3) the relative reading behaves in the same way as in (2), but does not give rise to the

proportional interpretation.

Masahiko Aihara is another researcher who has made certain claims regarding absolute

and relative readings of quality superlatives. In his paper he draws on research by Heim and

Szabolcsi about the est-movement theory and presents evidence from Japanese which he

claims supports the theory (Aihara, 2009). This evidence is presented through plenty of

examples of the overt est-movement that English seems to lack but which Japanese displays

(ibid.). The claim made by Aihara through this evidence is that in situ -est in Japanese can

yield both absolute and relative readings but that DP-external -est only allows for the relative

reading. The example below is one made by Aihara to support this point.

7

(4) a. John-ga ichiban takai yama-ni nobot-ta.

John-NOM most high mountain-to climb-PST

b. Ichiban John-ga takai yama-ni nobot-ta.

most John-NOM high mountain-to climb-PST

'John climbed the highest mountain.'

In this example, (4a) allows both absolute and relative readings while (4b) allows only the

relative reading.

In some languages a distinction is made between mass and count nouns (Murphy, 2010)

and this distinction can in some languages influence quantity superlatives. An example of this

can be seen in the Swedish language, where the quantity superlatives mest and det mesta are

used when qualifying mass nouns while flest and de flesta are used with count nouns.

Yet another distinction is made within the positive, comparative and superlative degrees

of adjectives. Following Bobaljik (2012), Bogal-Allbritten (2016) applies the distinction

between 'comparison of superiority' and 'comparison of inferiority' to distinguish between

more than and less than comparative constructions. These distinctions can be explained with

the translations in the following table adapted from Bogal-Allbritten (ibid.):

3.2.1 Table: Construction and Translation of Comparison of Superiority/Inferiority

Construction Translation

Comparison of superiority x is more ADJ than y

Comparison of inferiority x is less ADJ than y

8

4. Data and Analysis

4.1 Proportional Quantity Superlatives

The predictions for the proportional quantity superlatives would have been for them to display

in situ -est coupled with a word meaning "many". This prediction is clearly not met by these

results since taihan and hotondo are used instead.

In the following examples, the sentences and their translations will be presented along

with interlinear glosses.

Most of the kids who go to my school like to play music.

(5) Informant 1

私-の学校-に通って-いる子供-たち-のほとんど-は

watashi-no gakkou-ni kayotte-iru kodomo-tachi-no hotondo-wa

I-GEN school-to go_to-PROG child-PL-GEN mostly-TOP

音楽-を演奏-する-の-が好き-だ。

ongaku-wo ensou-suru-no-ga suki-da

music-ACC play-do-NMLZ-NOM like-COP

(6) Informant 2

私-の学校-に通う多く-の子ども-たち-は

watashi-no gakkou-ni kayou ooku-no kodomo-tachi-wa

I-GEN school-to go_to many-GEN child-PL-TOP

音楽-をする-こと-が好き-です。

ongaku-wo suru-koto-ga suki-desu

music-ACC do-NMLZ-NOM like-COP

(7) Informant 3 and 4

私-の学校-に通う子供-の大半-は音楽-を

watashi-no gakkou-ni kayou kodomo-no taihan-wa ongaku-wo

I-GEN school-to go_to child-GEN majority-TOP music-ACC

演奏-する-こと-が好き-です。

ensou-suru-koto-ga suki-desu

play-do-NMLZ-NOM like-COP

9

Mom bakes cookies yesterday and I ate most of them.

(8) Informant 1, 2 and 4

母-は昨日クッキー-を焼いて、私-は

haha-wa kinou kukki-wo yaite watashi-wa

mother-TOP yesterday cookie-ACC bake I-TOP

それら-のほとんど-を食べ-た。

sorera-no hotondo-wo tabe-ta

those-GEN mostly-ACC eat-PST

(9) Informant 3

きのう母さん-がクッキー-を焼い-たが、

kinou okaasan-ga kukki-wo yai-ta ga

yesterday mother-NOM cookie-ACC bake-PST and

私-が大半-を食べ-た。

watashi-ga taihan-wo tabe-ta

I-NOM majority-ACC eat-PST

I don't like most of the music they play on the radio.

(10) Informant 1, 2, 3 and 4

(私-は) ラジオ-でかかる音楽-のほとんど-は

(watashi-wa) rajio-de kakaru ongaku-no hotondo-wa

(I-TOP) radio-in play music-GEN mostly-TOP

好き-じゃない。

suki-janai

like-COP;NEG

10

I drank most of the milk too.


私-は牛乳もほとんど飲み干し-ました。

watashi-wa gyuunyuu mo hotondo nomihoshi-mashita

I-TOP cow's_milk also mostly drink_up-PST

(12) Informant 3

牛乳も私-が大半-を飲ん-だ。

gyuunyuu mo watashi-ga taihan-wo non-da

cow's_milk also I-NOM majority-ACC drink-PST

During most of the summer we have played music every day.


夏-の間殆ど毎日、私-たち-は

natsu-no aida hotondo mainichi watashi-tachi-wa

summer-GEN span mostly every_day I-PL-TOP

音楽-を演奏-して-いまし-た。

ongaku-wo ensou-shite-imashi-ta

music-ACC play-do-PROG-PST

The data gathered from the questions that were meant to elicit responses containing

proportional superlatives shows a relatively even distribution of the noun taihan meaning

"majority" and the adverbial noun1 hotondo meaning "mostly". As seen in (8) and (11), taihan

does not seem to make any distinction between mass and count nouns and is used with both.

The same observation can be made for hotondo in (7) and (10). In (5) Informant 2 constructed

the sentence in Japanese without using an actual superlative, although it is possible that the

intended meaning is still available through the context. Answers from Informant 2 were

excluded on two occasions due to failure to use superlatives. Based on these results taihan

and hotondo appear in relatively free variation.

1 An adverbial noun is a noun which is used as an adverb to modify verbs and adjectives.

11

4.2 Relative Superior and Inferior Quantity Superlatives

The predictions for the relative quantity superlatives are that they could either keep -est in situ

or move it out of the DP. What is displayed by the translation is that -est stays in situ

throughout all of the relative quantity superlative sentences. This does not necessarily exclude

the possibility of est-movement, but it does perhaps point to a preference for -est to remain in

situ.

Of all the kids in my school, I'm the one who plays the most instruments.


私-の学校-の子ども-たち-の中-で、最も

watashi-no gakkou-no kodomo-tachi-no naka-de mottomo

I-GEN school-GEN child-PL-GEN among-in most/Est

多-の楽器-を演奏-する-の-は私-だ。

ooku-no gakki-wo ensou-suru-no-wa watashi-da

many-GEN instrument-ACC play-do-NMLZ-TOP I-COP

(15) Informant 2

私-の学校-の子ども-たち-の中-で、私-が

watashi-no gakkou-no kodomo-tachi-no naka-de watashi-ga

I-GEN school-GEN child-PL-GEN among-in I-NOM

一番多く-の楽器-を引く-こと-ができる。

ichiban ooku-no gakki-wo hiku-koto-ga dekiru

Est many-GEN instrument-ACC play-NMLZ-NOM do;POT

But I am the member of our family who eats the most cookies.


でも、家族-の中-でいちばんたくさんクッキー-を

demo kazoku-no naka-de ichiban takusan kukki-wo

but family-GEN among-in Est many cookie-ACC

食べる-のも私-だ。

taberu-no mo watashi-da

eat-NMLZ also I-COP

12

(17) Informant 2

しかし、家族-の中-で一番クッキー-を食べる。

shikashi kazoku-no naka-de ichiban kukki-wo taberu

but family-GEN among-in most cookie-ACC eat

(18) Informant 4

しかしクッキー-を食べる量-は、私-が一番

shikashi kukki-wo taberu ryou-wa watashi-ga ichiban

but cookie-ACC eat amount-TOP I-NOM Est

多い-です。

ooi-desu

many-COP

But it is probably Hans who has drunk the most coffee.


でも、コーヒー-を一番たくさん飲ん-だ-の-は、

demo coohii-wo ichiban takusan non-da-no-wa

but coffee-ACC Est much drink-PST-NMLZ-TOP

たぶんハンス-だ。

tabun Hans-da

probably Hans-COP

(20) Informant 2

しかし最もコーヒー-を飲ん-だ-こと-がある-の-は

shikashi mottomo coohii-wo non-da-koto-ga aru-no-wa

however most/Est coffee-ACC drink-PST-NMLZ-NOM be/exist-GEN-TOP

おそらく Hans-だ。

osoraku Hans-da

probably Hans-COP;PST

13

(21) Informant 4

しかしおそらく、一番コーヒー-を飲んで-い-た-の-は

shikashi osoraku ichiban coohii-wo nonde-i-ta-no-wa

but probably Est coffee-ACC drink-PROG-PST-NMLZ-TOP

ハンス-です。

Hans-desu

Hans-COP

The member of my family who plays fewest instruments is my sister Karin.

(22) Informant 1

家族-の中-で一番楽器-を引か-ない-の-は

kazoku-no naka-de ichiban gakki-wo hika-nai-no-wa

family-GEN among-in Est instrument-ACC play-NEG-NMLZ-TOP

妹-のカリン-だ。

imouto-no Karin-da

sister-GEN Karin-COP


私-の家族-の中-で演奏-する楽器-の

watashi-no kazoku-no naka-de ensou-suru gakki-no

I-GEN family-GEN among-in play-do instrument-GEN

数-がいちばん少ない-の-は、姉-のカーリン-だ。

kazu-ga ichiban sukunai-no-wa ane-no Karin-da

number-NOM Est few-NMLZ-TOP sister-GEN Karin-COP

(24) Informant 4

私-の家族-の中-で、最も演奏-する

watashi-no kazoku-no naka-de mottomo ensou-suru

I-GEN family-GEN among-in most/Est play-do

器-が少ない-の-は、姉-のカリン-です。

gakki-ga sukunai-no-wa ane-no Karin-desu

instrument-NOM few-NMLZ-TOP sister-GEN Karin-COP

14

I am the one who drinks the least coffee.


コーヒー-をいちばん飲ま-ない-の-は私-だ。

koohii-wo ichiban noma-nai-no-wa watashi-da

coffee-ACC Est drink-NEG-NMLZ-TOP I-COP

(26) Informant 2

私-はコーヒー-を飲む-の-が最も少ない。

watashi-wa koohii-wo nomu-no-ga mottomo sukunai

I-TOP coffee-ACC drink-NMLZ-NOM most/Est few/a little

(27) Informant 4

私-はコーヒー-を飲む量-が家族-の中-で

watashi-wa koohii-wo nomu ryou-ga kazoku-no naka-de

I-TOP coffee-ACC drink amount-NOM family-GEN among-in

一番少ない-です。

ichiban sukunai-desu

Est few-COP

In the answers to questions containing relative superlatives the chosen superlative

constructions are, without exception, ichiban and mottomo. In his paper The scope of -est:

evidence from Japanese Masahiko Aihara mentions that ichiban and mottomo can be regarded

as independent superlative morphemes similar to most in English and that there is little to no

difference in how they are used (Aihara, 2009). This leads to the plausible conclusion that the

choice of superlative in these sentences is more likely a question of personal preference than

due to some difference in meaning. The fact that for almost every sentence there seems to be a

three-to-one distribution of ichiban and mottomo further supports this theory.

Whether the sentence contains a superior or inferior superlative construction does not

seem to affect the choice of superlative morpheme. Ichiban and mottomo are still used

interchangeably and the inferiority of the superlative construction is expressed through choice

of adjective or negation of the verb. For the sentence 'The member of my family who plays

fewest instruments is my sister Karin.', containing a count noun, (21) shows an example where

15

the verb is negated to form the inferiority superlative construction and in (22) and (23) the

adjective sukunai, meaning "few", is used. In the case of the sentence 'I am the one who

drinks the least coffee.', containing a mass noun, (24) shows that two informants chose verb-

negation and in (25) and (26) the other two chose the adjective sukunai. As seen in these

examples, no particular difference between sentences with mass and count nouns can be

found among the relative superlative sentences.

The strategies used to form relative superlatives all contain ichiban or mottomo but not

all of them use a quantifier such as ooku, meaning "many" or sukunai, meaning "few". In the

cases that are comparisons of inferiority there seems to be a choice between using sukunai

with a nominalized verb or the negation of the nominalized verb and it is possible that the

same choice between ooku with a nominalized verb or only the nominalized verb is occuring

in the comparisons of superiority but is less obvious since the verb would not be negated

when the verb-only strategy is chosen in these cases. Furthermore, a case where ooku is

simply dropped and where no nominalized verb is used can be found in (17). This could

possibly be explained by informal use of the language causing such an omission to be

acceptable but this is merely speculation that has not been verified.

4.3 Superior and Inferior Comparatives and Positives

The questions concerning superior and inferior comparatives and positives served mostly as

contrast to the superlatives to show that most is in fact many + -est as suggested by Hackl

(2009).

My brother Hans also plays many instruments, but not more than me.


私-の兄-のハンスも多く-の楽器-を

watashi-no ani-no Hans mo ooku-no gakki-wo

I-GEN brother-GEN Hans also many-GEN instrument-ACC

演奏-するが、私ほどではない。

ensou-suru ga watashi hodo dewa nai

play-do but I as/extent COP be;NEG

16

(29) Informant 4

私-の兄-のハンスもたくさん-の楽器-を

watashi-no ani-no Hans mo takusan-no gakki-wo

I-GEN brother-GEN Hans also many-GEN instrument-ACC

演奏-しますが、私ほどではあり-ません。

ensou-shimasu ga watashi hodo dewa ari-masen

play-do but I as/extent COP be-NEG

I ought to eat fewer cookies.


私-はクッキー-を食べる量-を減らす-べき-です。

watashi-wa kukki-wo taberu ryou-wo herasu-beki-desu

I-TOP cookie-ACC eat amount-ACC decrease-should-COP

(31) Informant 2

私-はクッキー-を食べる-の-を少な-くす-べき-だ。

watashi-wa kukki-wo taberu-no-wo sukuna-ku su-beki-da

I-TOP cookie-ACC eat-NMLZ-ACC few-ADV do-should-COP

(32) Informant 3

私-はクッキー-をあまり食べ-ないようにし-た

watashi-wa kukki-wo amari tabe-nai younishi-ta

I-TOP cookie-ACC not_much eat-NEG try_to-PST

ほう-がいい。

hou-ga ii

way-NOM good

17

Mom says that he ought to drink less coffee.


母-は彼-に、もう少しコーヒー-を飲む

haha-wa kare-ni mousukoshi koohii-wo nomu

mother-TOP him-to a_bit_more coffee-ACC drink

量-を減らす-べき-だと-言って-います。

ryou-wo herasu-beki-da to-itte-imasu

amount-ACC decrease-should-COP QUOT-say-PROG

(34) Informant 2

母-は彼-はコーヒー-を飲む-の-を少な-く

haha-wa kare-wa koohii-wo nomu-no-wo sukuna-ku

mother-TOP him-TOP coffee-ACC drink-NMLZ-ACC few-ADV

す-べき-だと-言う。

su-beki-da to-iu

do-should-COP QUOT-say

Many try, but few can resist my mom's cookies.

(35) Informant 1

多く-の人-がこころみるが、母-のクッキー-に

ooku-no hito-ga kororomiru ga haha-no kukki-ni

many-GEN people-NOM try but mother-GEN cookie-to

あらがう-こと-ができる人-はほとんどい-ない

aragau-koto-ga dekiru hito-wa hotondo inai

resist-NMLZ-NOM do;POT people-TOP mostly exist-NEG

18

(36) Informant 3

母さん-のクッキー-を食べ-ないようにしようとする

okaasan-no kukki-wo tabe-nai youni shiyoutosuru

mother-GEN cookie-ACC eat-NEG like/as try_to_do

者-は多いが、食べ-ずにいられる

mono-wa ooi ga tabe-zu-ni irareru

person-TOP many but eat-without_doing-to exist

者-は少ない。

mono-wa sukunai

person-TOP few

In these constructions the superlative morphemes ichiban and mottomo as well as the

proportional adverbial noun hotondo and the proportional noun taihan do not show up but

many of the previously seen adjectives such as ooku and sukunai are still used to form

superior and inferior comparatives and positives respectively. This suggests that these

sentences are in line with the predictions of Hackl's (2009) theory, seeing as words like ooku

and sukunai form superlatives with the independent superlative morphemes ichiban or

mottomo but form comparatives and positives without them.

When translating the sentence 'Many try, but few can resist my mom's cookies.' it

appears that two of the informants misunderstood the English sentence. These responses were

therefore removed from the data once analyzed and judged irrelevant.

4.4 Quality Superlatives

The questionnaire also contained two sentences with quality superlatives to be compared to

the quantity superlatives elicited by the remaining sentences.

I'm not the one in the family with the thinnest waist.


家族-でいちばんウエスト-が細い-の-は私-じゃない。

kazoku-de ichiban waist-ga hosoi-no-wa watashi-janai

family-in Est waist-NOM thin-NMLZ-TOP I-COP;NEG

19

But it is hard since mom bakes the yummiest cookies in the whole world.


しかし、母-は世界-で一番おいしいクッキー-を

shikashi haha-wa sekai-de ichiban oishii kukki-wo

but mother-TOP world-in most delicious cookie-ACC

焼くので、それ-は難しい。

yaku node sore-wa muzukashii

bake because_of that-TOP difficult

The translations for these were highly uniform in nature. All informants used the

superlative morpheme ichiban to qualify the adjectives hosoi, meaning "thin", in (36) and

oishii, meaning "delicious", in (37).

The only true difference between these quality superlatives and the relative quantity

superlatives in part 4.2 is the adjectives modified by the superlative morpheme and the results

seem to show that ichiban and, presumably, mottomo simply modify the adjective into a

superlative regardless of whether the adjective denotes a quality or a quantity. It should also

be noted that the example in (37) contains an absolute superlative reading with ichiban which

suggests that Japanese forms proportional superlatives like those in part 4.1 by using different

words from those used to form relative and absolute superlatives.

Also with the quality superlatives -est remains in situ, further supporting the idea that in

situ -est is the preferred location of -est to the informants. This does, once again, challenge the

validity of the est-movement theory but does not entirely exclude it.

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5. Conclusion

In light of the data elicited and the analysis of the results it seems fairly obvious that the

predictions made for quantity superlatives based on Hackl and Aihara's theories are not met.

The proportional superlatives did not show the use of the independent superlative morphemes

ichiban and mottomo at all, meaning no actual -est was present in these cases since the noun

taihan meaning "majority" and the adverbial noun hotondo meaning approximately "mostly"

were used instead. No instances of est-movement were found in the relative superlatives and

it appears that in situ -est is strongly favored by the informants.

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6. Discussion

The results of this study has given rise to a few questions. The first of which comes from the

fact that proportional quantity superlatives in Japanese do not seem to make use of -est at all.

The independent superlative morphemes corresponding to -est in Japanese only appear in the

relative superlatives and the absolute quality superlatives. Under Hackl's view of most as

many + -est this is certainly puzzling and this study does not extend to provide any

explanations for this irregularity. Perhaps the behavior of proportional superlatives in

Japanese could be a topic of future research.

The next question concerns DP-external -est which was predicted as a possibility to

occur within the relative superlatives. As previously mentioned, in situ -est seems to be

favored among the informants and DP-external -est does not appear at all. When discussing

this issue with some of the informants the answers received indicated that moving ichiban to

the front makes the sentences unnatural, even if it might strictly speaking be possible. Aihara's

example, as seen in (4) in the Background section of this essay, was used to discuss the

possibility of est-movement with the informants. The reason why DP-external -est does not

appear might then be that it is simply unnatural and weird for ichiban and mottomo to show

up DP-externally at the front of a sentence and this observation seems to somewhat challenge

the view of est-movement theory as being applicable to Japanese.

Additionally, some interesting differences in strategies appeared within the relative

superior and inferior quantity superlatives. The difference in question is the choice between

using ooku and sukunai together with a nominalized verb or to only use the nominalized verb

and to negate it in the case of inferior quantity superlatives. It seems likely that this is due to a

difference in whether the actual amount consumed or the magnitude to which the subject is,

for instance, a coffee-drinker is modified by ichiban/mottomo.

It should also be mentioned that a larger number of informants might have been able to

elicit a more diverse set of data and that such a study might have given slightly different

results for that reason. This study focused mainly on quantity superlatives and because of that

it cannot be said to shed much light upon quality superlatives and the variation among those.

This is a small study meant as a beginning of investigation into quantity superlatives in

Japanese and I hope that further research on the topic of superlatives in Japanese will lead to a

better understanding of superlatives both within and across languages.

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QUANTITY SUPERLATIVES IN JAPANESE - flov.gu.se · be on quantity superlatives, ... the form of an adjective inflected or modified to the middle degree is called the comparative degree,

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