Event Structure

Working paper · September 2026 · Japanese micro-entry · Beyond Index 2 · Group A · Attitude / ascribe fault

blame · 責める (semeru)

Attitude / ascribe-fault sense in Japanese. Working name √ASCRIBE_FAULT. Hierarchy Judge > Target > Charge (1+2). Same family as attributeATT and creditMERIT · Japanese, opposite polarity of merit. Primary packaging 責める; light-noun / FAULT-on-N companions 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする; scout 着せ / kiseru. Case cloth: ACC (o) Target under 責める; ni can mark Target under light-noun / on-geometry; de / no sei-de for Charge. No DOC, no MeasureP, no HAVE, no SWAP. Double-o unused.

JA micro-entry live Beyond Index 2 Group A packaging EN blame live ES culpar live FR blâmer live IT incolpare live ZH 怪 live NV deferred

Sense × language tick: blame · Japanese (責める / semeru). Twins: English blame EN micro-entry · Spanish (culpar) ES micro-entry · French (blâmer) FR micro-entry · Italian (incolpare) IT micro-entry · Mandarin (怪 / 责备) ZH micro-entry. Geometry neighbors: attributeATT · creditMERIT · JA · assignASCRIBE · chargeACCUSE. Index 2 does not list Japanese under Attitude (JA Index 2 cell is Risk / kakeru only) — same Beyond-Index-2 pattern as creditMERIT · Japanese and sell · Japanese. Index 2 / NegQ Blame Group A predicts Japanese sei / semeru packaging.

Working paper. Japanese-only micro-entry from Tritransitive NegQ Blame Group A packaging (Negative_Questions_Blame; Lexical_Entry_Blame_Argument_Structure § Groups A–D; light-noun contrast in Assign_Blame_Comparison). Constructed diagnostics diagnose particles, Voice filter, sei FAULT-on-N cloth, and sase wrapping; they are not spontaneous-speech citations. Twins live at blame.html, blame-es.html, blame-fr.html, and blame-it.html. Mandarin twin now live at blame-zh.html. Navajo companions in the same Group A notes are pointed only — this tick does not deepen them.
Constructed examples. Frames below are packaging hypotheses aligned with blame-en-notes Group A (“Japanese: semeru / sekinin-o owaseru; ni marks Target, de / no sei-de Charge; Double-o unused”) and chat 22 (“Japanese sei keeps weather on the noun; sase wrapping cannot wash out the inner Judge”). Cause-true and settlement are not entailed — same missing defaults as English blame, Romance twins, attributeATT, and creditMERIT. Do not fake elicitation. Scout-leaning forms are flagged.
Class table. Index 2 does not list Japanese under Attitude / Evaluation. Like creditMERIT · Japanese and sell · Japanese, this root sits Beyond Index 2 as a Group A remainder sense×language page. Neighbouring Index 2 classes (Risk / kakeru) are not a translation of blame. Single-sense lemma — no sense subscript on the headword.
Scout / deferred. Mandarin 怪 / 责备 is live at blame-zh.html. Navajo classificatory Target packaging shares Group A but is not a micro-entry this tick. Relative productivity of scout 着せ / kiseru vs primary 責める / light-noun 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする is scout-leaning where the extract lists forms without ranking them. No fake elicitation.

Hierarchy

Same inventory as English blame, Spanish culpar, French blâmer, and Italian incolpare. Not five-place. Not four sisters of one V. Surface count can name the committee, the weather, the delay, and an airline — but the lexicon does not list four co-arguments of √ASCRIBE_FAULT / √SEME-.

Intended labeling (shared with English · Japanese cloth)

√ASCRIBE_FAULT + VoiceJ(Judge) + Target + Charge  ·  hierarchy Judge > Target > Charge (1+2)

Voice introduces Judge (proto-Agent of the attitude). The ascription relates Target to Charge. Japanese spells the default verbal cloth as ACC (o) on Target under 責める, with Charge inside de / no sei-de (and related Cause cloth). Light-noun / FAULT-on-N packaging (責任を負わせる, …のせいにする; scout 着せ) puts FAULT on N — Target often in ni, Charge as the light noun or as the genitive host of sei — still one ascription, still no HAVE / SWAP / MeasureP. Optional high Affectee / outer CAUSEG (〜させる) wrap Voice; they are not listed inner arguments.

No MeasureP. There is no verbal Amount+Denomination object. Degrees that sneak in (shares of blame / どれだけの責任) live on the Abney spine of a light noun or of Charge — Left Branch Condition for sell / pay / chargeFEE does not apply as a verbal diagnostic here. Floating counters under negation that split N from Num+# (MeasureP_Japanese_Counters) are irrelevant as verbal MeasureP on blame.

What Group A Japanese changes is particle cloth and FAULT-on-N packaging (sei / sekinin / scout kiseru). What it does not change is the inventory. Weather still satisfies Target and fails Judge. Cause-true is still not entailed. Target and Charge still do not invert at Transfer cost. Double-o is unused.

Japanese frames · Case clothes

Japanese packages blame without a productive DOC. Under primary 責める, Target is ACC (o); Charge sits in de / no sei-de (Cause / FAULT cloth). Light-noun companions flip the Case object: ACC on 責任 / FAULT-N with ni Target (責任を負わせる), or Charge hosted by sei under …のせいにする. NegQ under -nakatta ka tracks the Case object of the chosen cloth. Scout-leaning: 着せ / kiseru packaging is listed in Group A Assign_Blame notes without a productivity ranking.

  1. ✓ 委員会は悪天候を遅延のせいで責めた。 canonical · ACC Target · no sei-de Charge
  2. ✓ 委員会は悪天候を責めなかったのか。 polar NegQ baseline · ACC Target
  3. ✓ 遅延を悪天候のせいにした。 sei-ni-suru · FAULT-on-N · Target as sei-host
  4. ✓ 委員会は悪天候に責任を負わせた。 sekinin-o owaseru · ACC light noun · ni Target
  5. ✓ 天気のせいにした。 weather = Target · fine
  6. ✓ 悪天候を遅延のことで責めなかったのか。 de / koto Charge cloth · NegQ
  7. ✓ 責任を着せた。 kiseru companion · scout-leaning productivity
  8. * 天気は委員会を責めなかったのか。 weather as Judge
  9. * 委員会は悪天候を遅延を責めた。 no productive DOC · Double-o unused
  10. * 天気に委員会へ責任を負わせさせなかったのか。 weather still not inner Judge under 〜させる

NegQ baseline (Japanese map · Group A)

✓ 委員会は悪天候を責めなかったのか。

✓ 遅延を悪天候のせいにしなかったのか。

✓ 委員会は悪天候に責任を負わせなかったのか。

✓ 誰を責めなかったのか。 WH = Target (ACC)

✓ 何のせいにしなかったのか。 WH = Target under sei · or Charge host

✓ 誰が悪天候を責めなかったのか。 WH = Judge

* 天気は委員会を責めなかったのか。

✓ Transfer contrast pointer: Themes invert freely under swap / exchange NegQ; blame Target/Charge do not at Transfer cost.

A bare negative answer on the canonical NegQ most readily challenges the ascription event or the ACC Target. Challenging the Charge wants that content already under discussion. Negation does not grow a double-object and does not create a fourth Case. sei keeps weather on the noun (Target), not as Judge. 〜させる wrapping cannot wash out the inner Voice filter (chat 22).

WH / NegQ diagnostics · no MeasureP LBC

Unlike sell / payGIVE / chargeFEE / bet, blame has no verbal MeasureP. There is therefore no Left-Branch Condition of the Amount-from-Denomination type on √SEME-. Degrees that appear are DP-internal on Charge or on the light noun 責任 / せい.

  1. ✓ 誰を遅延のせいで責めなかったのか。 WH = Target
  2. ✓ 何のせいで悪天候を責めなかったのか。 WH = Charge
  3. ✓ 誰が悪天候を責めなかったのか。 WH = Judge
  4. ✓ どれだけの責任を負わせなかったのか。 degree on light noun · Abney-side
  5. ✓ 天気のせいにしなかったのか。 weather = Target under sei · fine
  6. * いくら悪天候を遅延のせいで責めなかったのか。 no verbal MeasureP LBC host
  7. * 天気に委員会へ責任を負わせさせなかったのか。 weather cannot be Judge under WH / sase either

Superiority ranks Judge > Target > Charge. It does not rank Charge against a silent Purpose, Price, or Theme₂. Cheap NegQ association tracks the Case object of the chosen cloth: Target under single-verb 責める; light noun / sei-host under FAULT-on-N packaging.

o-Target ≠ Transfer Theme · de/sei-de-Charge ≠ other Japanese de jobs

を Target = ascribee under 責める — not sell Recipient HAVE, not bet Platform, not FIN Account. で / のせいで Charge = content of the attitude — not earmark Purpose (tame-ni), not pay Consideration, not sell Price, not deduct Reason alone (though particle letter overlaps; geometry does not). Light-noun に Target under 責任を負わせる is the on-geometry twin of English on-Target / Romance a|su Target — still one ascription.

Geometry · semeru ≠ mitomeru ≠ wariateru ≠ Transfer

In 委員会は悪天候を遅延のせいで責めた, the committee holds that the weather is responsible for the delay. That is ascription, not HAVE of goods and not SWAP of Themes. Weather is Target. The delay is Charge. HOLD is an attitude; RESPONSIBLE(Target, Charge) is content, not a presupposed fact.

  • ≠ English DOC / Transfer invert. There is no productive *悪天候を遅延を責める DOC. Double-o is unused — same Double-o ban as other JA pages (sell, pay, deduct, credit).
  • ≠ attributeATT polarity merge. Shared family (ascribe content to Target) and shared Voice filter; blame writes FAULT polarity. Keep the Assign_Blame split: single-verb 責める … で / のせいで vs light-noun 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする. 割り当てる (wariateru) stays duty / TASK — not FAULT (Assign_Blame Group A).
  • ≠ creditMERIT / 功績を認める. Opposite polarity of merit. creditMERIT JA defaults to ACC Charge + ni Target; blame JA defaults to ACC Target under 責める. Live twin: credit-merit-ja.html.
  • ≠ chargeACCUSE legal overlay. Fault content can overlap in discourse; legal / speech-act overlays stay on chargeACCUSE — this page does not invent a second root.
  • Missing defaults. Cause-true and settlement are not entailed. 責めなかったのか is compatible with the weather not in fact causing the delay.

English twin pointer: Target for Charge / Charge on Target. Spanish: culpar a … de / light-noun echar la culpa a. French: blâmer … pour / light-noun attribuer / jeter la faute à|sur. Italian: incolpare … di / light-noun attribuire / dare / gettare la colpa a|su. Weather OK as Target, *not* as Judge. Japanese spells the for-frame as 責める … で / のせいで; the on-geometry surfaces as light-noun 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする (scout 着せ), not as a productive Charge-ACC flip of the English on-frame type under the same verb letter.

Shells, ApplP, and Case

Base tree (ascribe-fault · Japanese cloth)

VoiceP  [ JudgeNOM
  vP / √ASCRIBE_FAULT
    ACC / o-marked    Target   (責める-frame)
    PP_de / sei-de    Charge   (で / のせいで + NP / clause)
]

Light-noun / FAULT-on-N on-geometry:
VoiceP  [ Judge
  vP / √OWASE·SURU / √SEI-NI-SURU
    ACC               責任 / Charge-host   (FAULT on N)
    PP_ni             Target              (悪天候に)
  — or: Charge を Target のせいにする ]

sase wrap (Type A):
  outer CAUSEG over Voice — causee is Judge; weather still fails

Japanese blame never assigns four structural Cases. Under 責める, Target is o; Charge is inside de / no sei-de. Under light-noun cloth, ACC hosts the FAULT noun; Target is ni (or the genitive host of sei). No low ApplHAVE. No low ApplSWAP. No ApplTASK. No MeasureP. High Appl / Affectee is extra when present and is not a listed argument of √ASCRIBE_FAULT.

Outer CAUSEG (〜させる) wraps Voice — Type A. The causee, not the weather, is the Judge. Chat 22: sase wrapping cannot wash out the inner Judge. *天気に委員会へ責任を負わせさせなかったのか keeps the inner filter. Type A climbing unions Voice domains; Charge stays content / Reason-PP and never climbs as a dative MeasureP.

Omission does not demote Charge to a pure adjunct. Selected P-layers are optional in the numeration; they are still arguments when present. The diagnostic is participanthood under Case, binding, and WH — not omitability.

Type A · 〜させる wrap

✓ 上司は委員会に悪天候を遅延のせいで責めさせなかったのか。 outer Neg denies causing

* 上司は天気に委員会へ責任を負わせさせなかったのか。 weather still not inner Judge

Underivables (Japanese)

  1. * 天気は委員会を責めなかったのか。 weather / inanimate as Judge
  2. * 上司は天気に委員会へ責任を負わせさせなかったのか。 〜させる does not wash Voice filter
  3. * 委員会は悪天候を遅延を責めた。 no productive DOC · Double-o
  4. * いくら悪天候を遅延のせいで責めなかったのか。 no verbal MeasureP LBC
  5. * 委員会は悪天候を遅延と交換しなかったのか。 SWAP cloth ≠ ascribe-fault
  6. * 委員会は悪天候に 0.3 ETH を責めなかったのか。 FIN / FEE MeasureP ≠ Charge of blame
  7. ✓ weather as Target: 天気のせいにした。 inanimate Target fine · sei keeps weather on N

Group A packaging · this tick Japanese only

Group A (English clothes, Japanese sei / semeru, Mandarin 把, Navajo scout) is the packaging contrast set already used for NegQ on blame. Same hierarchy as English; different host of Charge/Target Case and FAULT-on-N spelling. Japanese: semeru / sekinin-o owaseru / …-no sei-ni-suru; scout kiseru; ni Target under light-noun cloth; de / no sei-de Charge; Double-o unused. This tick is Japanese only. English, Spanish, French, and Italian twins are live at blame.html, blame-es.html, blame-fr.html, and blame-it.html. Mandarin 怪 / 责备 is live at blame-zh.html (把 fronts the object of the frame under 没). Navajo classificatory Target packaging share the DOCX and stay scout — not elicited here. Group B Romance and Group C (HU Focus, PL GEN-neg) stay on their twin pages / predictions.

Open items

  • English / Romance twins. blame.html, blame-es.html, blame-fr.html, and blame-it.html are sprint-depth. Keep pages split by Case cloth (for/on · de · pour · di · JA o/de/sei/ni).
  • 着せ / kiseru productivity. Listed in Group A Assign_Blame notes with 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする; relative naturalness needs controlled elicitation — flagged scout-leaning, not closed.
  • sei vs clausal Charge. Corpus: sei keeps weather on the noun. Boundary between FAULT-on-N and Cause-adjunct de under discourse coercion is open.
  • Mandarin micro-entry. Live at blame-zh.html. Navajo HANDLE packaging remains deferred.
  • Group C packaging. Hungarian Focus+nem, Polish GEN-neg predictions remain scout / predicted. No fake elicitation.
  • MERIT twin pointer. Japanese creditMERIT live at credit-merit-ja.html — opposite polarity; keep ACC Charge+ni Target vs blame ACC Target under 責める.

Corpus filenames

Primary extract for this micro-entry is Group A Japanese packaging on blame (semeru / sekinin-o owaseru / sei; NegQ Blame). Geometry is shared with the English lexical entry. Light-noun contrast from Assign_Blame_Comparison. Chat packaging: Tritransitive chats 13 (assign vs blame Case / NegQ) and 22 (blame in negative questions · no fourth theta · “Japanese sei … sase”). Box notes: blame-en-notes.txt §9.1 Group A; INDEX2 Attitude cell absent for JA.

Series placement: Japanese sense×language twin of English blame EN micro-entry, Spanish culpar ES micro-entry, French blâmer FR micro-entry, and Italian incolpare IT micro-entry. Feeds Attitude / Evaluation Beyond Index 2 and the ascribe-fault cell next to attributeATT / creditMERIT. Closes the Japanese Group A blame cell. Mandarin twin live at blame-zh.html. Does not invent NV/HU/PL elicitation. Speculation flagged.