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NP-ellipsis and numeral classifiers in Korean

  • So-Young Park EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 5, 2021

Abstract

The syntactic status of numeral classifiers with respect to NP-ellipsis in classifier languages has been a controversial subject in many recent discussions. Addressing this issue, this article argues that Korean numeral classifiers can serve as functional heads that license NP-ellipsis via PF-deletion. A null NP appearing in a numeral classifier context cannot be identified with any other null categories, such as a pro or a null NP pro-form. This null NP induces a different reading from a pro, especially when a possessor argument is stacked with a numeral classifier construction. Unlike an NP pro-form, it allows the extraction of an internal argument and exhibits a complementary distribution with kes ‘one’, a visible counterpart of a Korean NP pro-form. This article’s claim gains additional support from the asymmetries in NP-ellipsis of a uy-marked numeral classifier, contingent on its ambiguity, such as a ‘quantity’ or ‘property’ interpretation. In addition, the distribution of bare numerals in relation to the NP pro-form kes offers further evidence, reinforcing the claim.


Corresponding author: So-Young Park, Department of Korean Language and Literature, Pusan National University, 2 Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea, E-mail:

Funding source: Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea

Award Identifier / Grant number: NRF-2018S1A5A2A01028457

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Andrew Simpson and Audrey Li, as well as anonymous reviewers for Linguistics. I am also grateful to the participants of the Pusan National University Workshop, Donguk University Workshop, and Tenri University Workshop in Japan. All remaining errors are mine.

  1. Research funding: This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5A2A01028457).

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Received: 2017-05-12
Accepted: 2020-05-18
Published Online: 2021-05-05
Published in Print: 2021-05-26

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