A Case Study of Complement Restriction on Adjective-predicate Construction : Case of tanoshii

This paper examines some restrictions on so-called adjective predicate construction in Japanese, especially in the case of tanoshii ("fun"). Previous studies of Japanese complements have focused on mainly the complements of verb-predicate construction, regarding when to use no and koto. Meanwhile, adjectives have been studied how they make groups and what characteristics such groups have. Examining various examples, this paper suggests the following restrictions on the complements of adjective-predicate construction: (i) Usually, the subject of the complement sentence is the person who feels fun. (ii) The event expressed in the complement has somehow gives impact on the person who feels fun. (iii) Third person subject is restricted in the complement sentence, except the condition (ii) above is effective