Intransitive-transitive phrase pairs in Japanese

This paper is an attempt to characterize prototypical intransitivity and pr ototypical transitivity by means of analysis of intransitive-transitive phr ase pairs such as Taroo wa koe ga kareta/koa o karasita "taro got hoarse' a nd type of expression is a prototypical intransitive so far as satisfying t he requirement for a spontaneous meaning, but cannot be a prototypical intr ansitive because of the requirement for two arguments. The second type of e xpression is a prototypical transitive in that it follows the phrase struct ure NP 21 (ga) NP 0 Verbal, but cannot be a prototypical transitive due to a spontaneous meaning. We propose to deal with the indeterminate syntactic and semantic properties in terms of prototype, and assert that these phrase pairs are located on fuzzy borders between the intransitive and transitive spheres. We also propose that a prototypical transitive should require not only two arguments, and an intentional reading but also two independent en tities to refer to the two arguments. It is hoped that this paper will give some implications for the theory of prototype and transitivity study.