Japanese Phrase Structure Viewed through Hentai Kambun

It is widely known that hentai kambun word order deviates strikingly from classical Chinese. However, little systematic study has been done in order to determine the reasons for this deviation and the principles responsible for generating hentai kambun word order. This paper undertakes such a study and condudes that hentai kambun word order should not be characterized as random deviation from Chinese at all, but rather as a reflection of underlying head-initial Japanese phrase structure. Specifically, word order anomalies in hentai kambun can be accounted for under antisymmetric assumptions of Kayne (1994): either (1) a phrasal head is left in situ between its specifier and complement;or (2) part or all of a complement has raised to specifier position.