Cover not available

Article published In: Language and Linguistics
Vol. 25:4 (2024) ► pp.747–784

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

The syntax of Korean reduced conditionals

Right edge and pronominalization

 | Northwestern University
 | University of Seoul
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 27 June 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00168.yoo
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to provide an analysis of two important aspects of conditional clauses in Korean. The first goal is to reveal the structure of the conditional clause. In investigating reduced conditionals and regular copula clausal conditionals, we suggest the right-periphery of conditional clauses based on the Split CP hypothesis (Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Haegeman, Liliane (ed.), Elements of grammar: Handbook in generative syntax, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 2010. Sentence types and the Japanese right periphery. (Paper presented at the International Conference on Sentence Types: Ten Years After, Frankfurt am Main, 26–28 June 2009.)). The second goal is to examine the distribution of the clausal pronoun kukes in reduced conditionals, which, we argue, is the result of FinP ellipsis, building on the ellipsis theory of pronominalization (Baltin, Mark & van Craenenbroeck, Jeroen. 2008. On becoming a pronoun: Towards a unified theory of ellipsis. (Paper presented at the 10th CUNY/SUNY/NYU/YU Miniconference, New York, 22 November 2008.)). In doing so, we make two empirical points: (i) the parallelism regarding argument/adjunct asymmetry indicates that reduced conditionals are derived from clausal conditionals; and (ii) various connectivity effects reveal hidden clausal structure behind the pronominal element kukes, which means that there is a tight connection between focus constructions and conditional constructions in Korean. The implication of the present study is that we can argue against a simple-minded dichotomy of anaphora that says there are two types of anaphora, Deep and Surface, and Deep anaphora does not have syntactic structure.
Article outline
  • 1.Backgrounds: Reduced conditionals in Korean
    • 1.1Roadmap
  • 2.The focus-conditional link
    • 2.1Pronominal sluicing and pronominal conditionals
      • 2.1.1Properties of KPS
      • 2.1.2Properties of KPRC
  • 3.The analysis of focus constructions in Korean
    • 3.1Common properties in focus constructions
    • 3.2Analysis: Configurational pronominalization
  • 4.The analysis of KPRC
    • 4.1Further properties of KPRC
    • 4.2Right periphery of conditionals in Korean
    • 4.3The derivation of KPRC
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
References (73)
References
Akatsuka, Noriko. 1985. Conditionals and epistemic scale. Language 61(3). 625–639. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arita, Setsuko. 2007. Japanese conditional clauses and their properties of tensed clauses. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baltin, Mark. 2006. On so-called doubly-filled comps that are not. New York: New York University. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Structural signature of pronouns. New York: New York University. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baltin, Mark & van Craenenbroeck, Jeroen. 2008. On becoming a pronoun: Towards a unified theory of ellipsis. (Paper presented at the 10th CUNY/SUNY/NYU/YU Miniconference, New York, 22 November 2008.)
Bhatt, Rajesh & Pancheva, Roumyana. 2002. A cross-constructional analysis of if-clauses. (Paper presented at the Syntax Seminar: Interface in the CP-domain, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin, 9 March 2002.)
. 2006. Conditionals. In Everaert, Martin & van Riemsdijk, Henk (eds.), The Blackwell companion to syntax, vol. 11, 638–687. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan W. 1976. On the form and functioning of transformations. Linguistic Inquiry 7(1). 3–40.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruening, Benjamin & Dinh, Xuyen & Kim, Lan. 2018. Selection, idioms, and the structure of nominal phrases with and without classifiers. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 3(1). 1–46. (Article 42.) Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cho, Sungdai & Whitman, John & Yanagida, Yuko. 2009. Clefts in Japanese and Korean. In Bane, Max & Holle, Juan José Bueno & Grano, Thomas & Grotberg, April Lynn & McNabb, Yaron (eds.), CLS 44–1: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, the main session, 61–77. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Choi, Young-Sik. 2012. Sluicing is NOT in Korean. The Journal of Studies in Language 28(2). 329–351. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding: The Pisa lectures. 1st edn. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, Peter C. 1991. Cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions in English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fukaya, Teruhiko & Hoji, Hajime. 1999. Stripping and sluicing in Japanese and some implications. In Bird, Sonya & Carnie, Andrew & Haugen, Jason D. & Norquest, Peter (eds.), WCCFL 18: Proceedings of the 18th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 145–158. Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geis, Michael Lorenz. 1970. Adverbial subordinate clauses in English. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 1975. English time and place adverbials. OSU Working Papers in Linguistics 181. 1–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane. 2003. Conditional clauses: External and internal syntax. Mind & Language 18(4). 317–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. The movement derivation of conditional clauses. Linguistic Inquiry 41(4). 595–621. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haiman, John. 1978. Conditionals are topics. Language 54(3). 564–589. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, Chung-hye. 2006. Variation in form-meaning mapping between Korean and English counterfactuals. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 15(2). 167–193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, Chung-hye & Hedberg, Nancy. 2008. Syntax and semantics of it-clefts: A tree adjoining grammar analysis. Journal of Semantics 25(4). 345–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hiraiwa, Ken & Shinichiro Ishihara. 2002. Missing links: Cleft, sluicing, and “no da” construction in Japanese. In Ionin, Tania & Ko, Heejeong & Nevins, Andrew (eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd HUMIT Student Conference in Language Research (HUMIT 2001), 35–54. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoshi, Koji. 1995. Structural and interpretive aspects of head-internal and head-external relative clauses. New York: University of Rochester. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Jacobson, Pauline. 1995. On the quantificational force of English free relatives. In Bach, Emmon & Jelinek, Eloise & Kratzer, Angelika & Partee, Barbara H. (eds.), Quantification in natural languages, 451–486. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jieun. 2012. What sluicing comes from in Korean is pseudo-cleft. Korean Journal of Linguistics 37(1). 69–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok. 2008. Two types of cleft constructions in Korean: A constraint-based approach. Language and Information 12(1). 85–103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. The Korean sluicing: As a family of constructions. Studies in Generative Grammar 23(1). 103–130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok & Sells, Peter. 2013. Interactions between (pseudo-) cleft and copular constructions in Korean. Linguistic Research 30(1). 93–139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jooyoung. 2018. Embedding without a license?: Typology of unselected embedded clauses. Newark: University of Delaware. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Kim, Soowon. 1999. Sloppy/strict identity, empty objects, and NP ellipsis. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 8(4). 255–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Sun-Woong. 2010. The syntax of specification and predication: (Kes-) clefts in Korean and English. The Linguistic Society of Korea Journal 18(3). 167–185.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kizu, Mika. 1997. Sluicing in Wh-in-situ languages. In Singer, Kora & Eggert, Randall & Anderson, Gregory (eds.), CLS 33–1: Proceedings of the 33rd Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, papers from the main session, 231–244. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Cleft constructions in Japanese syntax. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ko, Suk-Joo. 2000. Hangugeo josaui yeongu. Seoul: Yonsei University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Koizumi, Masatoshi. 1995. Phrase structure in minimalist syntax. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Koopman, Hilda & Sportiche, Dominique. 1991. The position of subjects. Lingua 85(2-3). 211–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuno, Susumu. 1973. The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1976. Subject raising. In Shibatani, Masayoshi (ed.), Syntax and semantics, volume 5: Japanese generative grammar, 17–49. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1988. Blended quasi-direct discourse in Japanese. In Poser, William J. (ed.), Papers from the Second International Workshop on Japanese Syntax, 72–102. Stanford: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuwabara, Kazuki. 1996. Multiple wh-phrases in elliptical clauses and some aspects of clefts with multiple foci. In Koizumi, Masatoshi & Oishi, Masayuki & Sauerland, Uli (eds.), Formal approaches to Japanese linguistics (FAJL 2), 97–116. Cambridge: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Jeong-Shik. 2012. Resurrecting sluicing from clefting. Studies in Generative Grammar 22(2). 359–390. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec P. 1984. On the nature of grammatical relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec. 1996. “Cat” as a phrasal idiom: Consequences of late insertion in distributed morphology. Cambridge: MIT. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masuoka, Takashi & Takubo, Yukinori. 1992. Kiso nihongo bumpo. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 1998. Pseudosluicing: Elliptical clefts in Japanese and English. In Alexiadou, Artemis & Fuhrhop, Nanna & Law, Paul & Kleinhenz, Ursula (eds.), ZAS working papers in linguistics 101, 88–112. Berlin: Zertrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. The syntax of silence: Sluicing, islands, and the theory of ellipsis. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. Sluicing. In Everaert, Martin & van Riemsdijk, Henk (eds.), The Blackwell companion to syntax, vol. IV1, 271–291. London: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mihara, Kenichi & Hiraiwa, Ken. 2006. Shin nihongo no tougokouzou. Tokyo: Shohakusha.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mikami, Akira. 1960. Zoo-wa hana-ga nagai. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morgan, Jerry L. 1989. Sentence fragments revisited. In Music, Bradley & Graczyk, Randolph & Wiltshire, Caroline (eds.), CLS 25-2: Papers from the 25th Annual Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, part two: Parasession on language in context, 228–241. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakao, Chizuru & Yoshida, Masaya. 2005. Japanese sluicing as a specificational pseudo-cleft. (Paper presented at Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Tokyo, 18–19 March 2005.)
Nishiyama, Kunio & Whitman, John & Yi, Eun-Young. 1996. Syntactic movement of overt Wh-phrases in Japanese and Korean. In Akatsuka, Noriko & Iwasaki, Shoichi & Strauss, Susan (eds.), Japanese/Korean linguistics, vol. 51, 337–351. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Noda, Harumi. 1997. ‘No(da)’ no kinoo. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ok, Sung-Soo & Kim, Soo-Yeon. 2012. An analysis of sluicing-like constructions in Korean: A non-movement approach. Journal of Language Sciences 19(1). 155–180.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Park, Bum-Sik. 2005. Island-insensitive fragment answers in Korean. In Alderete, John & Han, Chung-hye & Kochetov, Alexei (eds.), Proceedings of the 24th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 317–325. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Park, Myung-Kwan. 2001. Subject-less clefts in Korean: Towards a deletion analysis. Language Research 37(4). 715–739.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Percus, Orin. 1997. Prying open the cleft. In Kusumoto, Kiyomi (ed.), Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 271, 337–351. Amherst: GLSA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perlmutter, David M. 1970. The two verbs begin. In Roderick A. Jacobs, & Rosenbaum, Peter S. (eds.), Readings in English transformational grammar, 107–119. Waltham: Ginn & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plann, Susan. 1982. Indirect questions in Spanish. Linguistic Inquiry 13(2). 297–312.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Haegeman, Liliane (ed.), Elements of grammar: Handbook in generative syntax, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rottman, Isaac & Yoshida, Masaya. 2013. Sluicing, idioms, and island repair. Linguistic Inquiry 44(4). 651–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saito, Mamoru. 1982. Case marking in Japanese: A preliminary study. Cambridge: MIT. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Some asymmetries in Japanese and their theoretical implications. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 2004. Ellipsis and pronominal reference in Japanese clefts. Nanzan Linguistics 11. 21–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Sentence types and the Japanese right periphery. (Paper presented at the International Conference on Sentence Types: Ten Years After, Frankfurt am Main, 26–28 June 2009.)
Sakai, Hiromu. 1998. Raising asymmetry and improper movement. In Akatsuka, Noriko & Hoji, Hajime & Iwasaki, Shoichi & Sohn, Sung-Ock & Strauss, Susan (eds.), Japanese/Korean linguistics, vol. 71, 481–497. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sohn, Keun-Won. 2000. A non-sluicing, non-clefting approach to copula construction. Studies in Generative Grammar 101. 267–295.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takahashi, Daiko. 1994. Sluicing in Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 3(3). 265–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takezawa, Koichi. 1987. A configurational approach to case marking in Japanese. Seattle: University of Washington. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Yeom, Jae-Il. 2005. The semantics of -ketun in Korean. Language Research 41(4). 749–784.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yoon, James Hye-Suk. 2004. Non-nominative (major) subjects and case stacking in Korean. In Bhaskararao, Peri & Subbarao, Karumuri Venkata (eds.), Non-nominative subjects, vol. 21, 265–314. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yoon, Jeong-Me. 1989. ECM and multiple subject constructions in Korean. In Kuno, Susumu (ed.), Harvard studies in Korean linguistics III, 369–382. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yoshida, Masaya. 2006. Constraints and mechanisms in long-distance dependency formation. College Park: University of Maryland, College Park. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue