This paper analyzes the compositional behavior of Japanese Type-4 Verbs as owing to their lacking an eventuality argument and classifies them as Individual-level predicates. I propose that, as verbs with no eventuality argument, they require rescuing to be used in a sentence. This is what -te-i-ru does, contributing an eventuality argument and allowing the expression to conjoin with a Voice phrase. I also show that a generic (or otherwise quantified) DP, which operates over individuals, can also rescue Type-4 Verbs. This results in plain -ru Type-4 Verb sentences being generic or otherwise quantified, and -te-i-ru sentences being either generic/quantified or referential. The proposed difference in argument structure of stative verbs and Individual-level verbs has implications for how we define verbs and verb phrases, which have come to be equated with eventuality arguments.

論文