A cartographic approach to Japanese relative clauses

The present work is an analysis of Japanese Relative Clauses within the cartographic theoretical framework. In the first chapter I classify the various types of Japanese Relative Clause. In the second chapter I describe Cinque's proposal for a unified theory of Relative Clauses. In the third chapter I analyze the behaviour of each type of Japanese Relative Clause with respect to eight issues: the position of the Relative Clause in the Noun Phrase compared to other modifiers; the syntactical function of the head-noun in its original position; cases of long-distance relativization; the possibility to insert a resumptive pronoun in place of the gap in the relative; the presence of reconstruction effects between the head and the relative; the possibility of the nominative/genitive conversion for the relative's subject; the presence of modal expressions and topics inside the Relative Clause. In the fourth chapter I examine if Cinque's model describes accurately the relativization strategies in Japanese.