The objective of this inquiry is to describe the so-called appositive (dookaku) structures in Japanese and to determine whether they constitute a syntactically or semantically uniform set of grammatical constructions that are sufficiently different from both subordination and coordination. I focus on three constructions that share a semantic characteristic corresponding to the head-modifier relation of non-restrictive modification in English. They are the pre-nominal 'appositive -no' phrase (modifier of the form [[NP-no] NP], where -no is a grammatical particle), the clausal modifier, and adjectival modifier. Since none of them has an overt appositive marker, in isolation they can be interpreted either as restrictive or non-restrictive modifiers. For instance, the phrase [nihonzin-no Tanaka-san] can be interpreted either as 'Mr. Tanaka, who happens to be Japanese,' or as 'the Mr. Tanaka who is Japanese (as opposed to the other persons named Tanaka who are not J! apanese)'. Thus, an important question is how these structures are properly disambiguated.
Theories on appositive constructions, parentheticals, and restrictive vs. nonrestrictive modification in English and Japanese will be examined. The analysis I propose is partly based on recent research on Japanese copula. Both syntactic and semantic/pragmatic aspects will be examined. The characteristic form/function mismatch in appositives will be addressed (i.e., their structure is that of restrictive modification, while the function is similar to that of coordination denoting incidental information about the head noun or temporal sequence.) It will be concluded that disambiguation between restrictive and non-restrictive interpretation involve context and the definiteness/uniqueness of the modified noun phrase.
Through an in-depth analysis of appositive constructions, this study contributes to a clearer understanding of the form/function relation in modification on the level of sentence grammar and forwards our understanding of modification on larger textual levels.