Wh and operator constructions in Japanese

This article surveys major results of the research conducted in the area of operator constructions in Japanese in the last 20 years or so, casting them under the light of the current theoretical setting. On the basis of the wh-island sensitivity, it is claimed that comparative deletion and wh-questions involve checking of a quantificational feature, whereas topicalization and head-internal relatives do not. Topicalization in Japanese is shown to be quite similar to its Italian counterpart under the theory which slightly modifies Rizziʹs [Rizzi, L., 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In: Haegeman, L. (Ed.), Elements of Grammar. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 281–337] original proposal. It is also obsereved in light of Old Japanese data that the ordering of topic and focus should be captured in terms of the typology of focus in E. Kiss [Language 74 (1998) 245–273].