Tough movement
This led Reider to propose that rather than a semantic reason for why certain adjectives can trigger tough movement and others cannot, instead it may be encoded separately for each word in a speaker's mental lexicon.
ケーキ-がkeeki-gacake-NOMこのkonothisナイフ-でnaifu-deknife-INS切り-やすい。kiri-yasuicut-easy toケーキ-が この ナイフ-で 切り-やすい。keeki-ga kono naifu-de kiri-yasuicake-NOM this knife-INS {cut-easy to}'The cake is easy to cut with this knife.
'このkonoThisナイフ-でnaifu-deknife-INSケーキ-がkeeki-gacake-NOM切り-やすい。kiri-yasuicut-easy toこの ナイフ-で ケーキ-が 切り-やすい。kono naifu-de keeki-ga kiri-yasuiThis knife-INS cake-NOM {cut-easy to}'With this knife the cake is easy to cut.
このKonoThis本-がhon-gabook-NOMジョン-にJon-niJohn-DAT読み-やすい。yomi-yasui.read-easy toこの 本-が ジョン-に 読み-やすい。Kono hon-ga Jon-ni yomi-yasui.This book-NOM John-DAT {read-easy to}"This book is easy for John to read.
"最近SaikinRecentlyジョン-はJon-waJohn-TOPとてもtotemovery寝付き-にくい。netsuki-nikui.sleep-difficult to最近 ジョン-は とても 寝付き-にくい。Saikin Jon-wa totemo netsuki-nikui.Recently John-TOP very {sleep-difficult to}"Recently John has had a lot of difficulty getting to sleep.
[6] An example of each of these types of constructions can be seen below: このKonoThis本-がhon-gabook-NOM太郎-にとってTaroo-nitotteTaroo-for図書館-でtoshokan-delibrary-LOC読み-やすい。yomi-yasuiread-easy toこの 本-が 太郎-にとって 図書館-で 読み-やすい。Kono hon-ga Taroo-nitotte toshokan-de yomi-yasuiThis book-NOM Taroo-for library-LOC {read-easy to}"This book is easy for Taroo to read at the library.
"このKonoThis図書館-がtoshokan-galibrary-NOM太郎-にとってTaroo-nittoteTaroo-for本-をhon-obook-ACC読み-やすい。yomi-yasuiread-easy toこの 図書館-が 太郎-にとって 本-を 読み-やすい。Kono toshokan-ga Taroo-nittote hon-o yomi-yasuiThis library-NOM Taroo-for book-ACC {read-easy to}"At this library, it is easy for Taroo to read the book.
"花子-がHanako-gaHanako-NOM太郎-にとってTaroo-nittoteTaroo-for本-をhon-obook-ACC貸し-やすい。kashi-yasuilend-easy to花子-が 太郎-にとって 本-を 貸し-やすい。Hanako-ga Taroo-nittote hon-o kashi-yasuiHanako-NOM Taroo-for book-ACC {lend-easy to}"To Hanako, it is easy for Taroo to lend a book.
He contrasted it with the sentence 'John is eager to please,' where instead John is the logical subject of please, in order to illustrate that a single static phrase structure tree is inadequate to explain the underlying phenomenon.
[7] In a thesis supervised by Chomsky, Peter Rosenbaum addressed the construction, identifying "the class of adjectives including "difficult," "easy," and several others."
[12] Furthermore Chomsky suggested that instead of separate rules for tough movement, comparative deletion, topicalization, clefting, object-deletion, adjective and adjective-qualifier complements, etc., all might be explained by a more general wh-movement analysis.
