Invisible Movement in Sika-Nai and the Linear Crossing Constraint

Abstract

Sika-nai is a Japanese word for only. This paper proposes that sika-nai should be analyzed along the line of Watanabe (1991,1992), who claims that Japanese has invisible syntacticwh-movement. We propose that sika has an invisible operator. Naiheads its own projection, NegP. The invisible operator moves toNegP-Spec in syntax. As evidence for this analysis, it will bedemonstrated that sika-nai shows effects of the SubjacencyCondition, the Proper Binding Condition, and the Linear CrossingConstraint. These principles interact with scrambling andwh-movement in such a way as to further confirm our analysis. Weadvance an argument against Chomsky‘s (1992) proposal that thereis no S-Structure condition.