Degree words and scalar structure in Japanese

The interaction of event structure and scalar structure has provided accounts for various phenomena revolving around verbs and degree modification. This paper demonstrates that such an interaction is indeed relevant in explaining the pattern of modification that the adverb totemo ‘very’ exhibits in Japanese. In particular, I will argue that the distinction between a ‘trivial standard’ and a ‘nontrivial standard’ discussed in the analysis of deverbal adjectives by Kennedy and McNally (1999) plays an important role in determining the range of verbs that accept degree modification by totemo.