Light Verbs and Verb Raising

Abstract

Grimshaw and Mester(1988) observe some peculiarities of the Japanese light verb suru and argue th at they can be explained by Argument Transfer with the assumption of the hierarchical organization of the argument structure. In this paper we will note some problems with their analysis , and propose an alternative analysis. In t his analysis, the peculiarity of the light suru construction is minimized to the possibility of Raising of sum to INFL position, leaving the nominal stem behind. Other peculiarities Grimshaw and Mester consider to be explained by Argument Transfer follow from independently motivated principles, or become independent of light suru.