Affectees in subject position and applicative theory

The aim of this article is twofold. First, based on passives in Japanese and Korean, it expands the domain of the applicative head (Appl) to include an argument in the structural subject position. These languages provide evidence for a new type of Appl, peripheral Appl, distinct from the well-known high Appl in Bantu: unlike high Appl, peripheral Appl is the highest argument-introducing head under T, and can merge above VoiceP. The recognition of peripheral Appl makes it possible to account for the cross-linguistic positional variation among affectee arguments. Second, the article provides articulated clause structures for passives in Japanese and Korean in terms of Appl. The applicative account proves to be successful in providing a unified account of Japanese possessive and non-possessive passives, and of Korean possessive passives and causatives.