Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Aspectual constructions with iss- ‘exist’ 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Aspectual properties of verbs 2.2.1. Aspectual classes of verbs 2.2.2.¡¡Distribution of -ko/e iss- forms in Vendler’s verb classes 2.3. Semantic and functional analysis of the -ko/e iss- construction 2.3.1.¡¡Resultative -ko iss- and resultative -e iss- 2.3.2.¡¡Progressive -ko iss- and resultative -ko iss- 2.3.3.¡¡Resultative -e iss- and the Unaccusative Hypothesis (UH) 2.4. Syntactic analysis of -ko/e iss- constructions 2.4.1.¡¡Syntactic derivation versus morphological derivation 2.4.2.¡¡The analysis of a bi-clausal underlying structure 2.4.3.¡¡The analysis of a mono-clausal underlying structure 2.4.4.¡¡Syntactic properties of iss- 2.4.5.¡¡The structure of the lower verbal phrase in -ko/e iss- constructions 2.5.¡¡Conclusion Chapter 3 Periphrastic causatives 3.1.¡¡Introduction 3.1.1.¡¡The synonymy hypothesis 3.1.2.¡¡The non-synonymy hypothesis 3.1.3.¡¡Non-uniform properties of the periphrastic causatives 3.2.¡¡Analyses of the V-(s)ase construction in Japanese 3.2.1.¡¡Underlying structures of ni-causatives and o-causatives 3.3.¡¡An alternative analysis 3.3.1.¡¡The verb ha- ‘do’ 3.3.2.¡¡Command causatives and non-command causatives 3.3.3.¡¡Case marking of the embedded subject NP 3.4.¡¡Conclusion Chapter 4 Lexical causatives 4.1.¡¡Introduction 4.2.¡¡Previous studies 4.2.1.¡¡Baker (1988) 4.2.2.¡¡Alsina (1992) 4.3.¡¡The morphological derivation hypothesis 4.3.1.¡¡Ditransitive verbs 4.3.2.¡¡Case marking of the causee 4.3.3.¡¡Objectivization 4.3.4.¡¡Semantic constraints on Objectivization 4.3.5.¡¡Passivization 4.4.¡¡Conclusion Chapter 5 Closing Remarks References