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8 - Syntax–Semantics Interface

from Part II - Language Structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2019

Sungdai Cho  and
John Whitman
Sungdai Cho
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Binghamton
John Whitman
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Chapter 8 examines the syntax–semantics interface in Korean. In this chapter, we focus on negation, topic/focus marking, tense/aspect/modality (TAM), pronouns and anaphora, and ellipsis. We discuss lexical, morphological, and syntactic negation. We illustrate differences in the semantic scope of pre- and postverbal negation. We discuss the syntax and interpretation of negative polarity items (NPIs). We investigate topic and focus marking, examining prosodic, morphological, and syntactic devices for marking information structure. In the section on TAM, we demonstrate properties and features of tense and aspect marking and examine the relation between modality and evidentiality. Korean distinguishes past, present, and future tense, with the latter arguably a modal. We introduce two major types of aspect which are sometimes construed as a portmanteau expression. For mood, we introduce indicative, conjectural, and retrospective patterns, the latter sometimes argued to be an evidential. We then turn to the syntax and semantics of nominal reference, surveying personal and deictic as well as anaphoric pronouns. Finally, we discuss ellipsis and zero anaphora patterns.

Keywords

NegationTopicFocusTenseAspectModalityPronominalReflexiveDeixisEllipsis
Type
Chapter
Information
Korean
A Linguistic Introduction
 , pp. 245 - 292
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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References

Further Readings

Choi, Young Sik. 2004. The structure of selo and its implication for binding theory. Language Research 40 (3), 681–694.Google Scholar
Chung, K. S. 2006. Korean evidentials and assertion. In Baumer, D., Montero, D., and Scanlon, M. (eds.), Proceedings of WCCFL 25, 105–113. Somerville, MA, Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 2007. Insubordination and its uses. In Nikolaeva, Irina (ed.), Finiteness: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations, 366–431. Oxford University Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, Beom-mo. 1998. Three kinds of Korean reflexives: A corpus linguistic investigation on grammar and usage. Language, Information, and Computation (PACLIC12), 10–19.Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok. 2000. The Grammar of Negation: A Lexicalist Constraint-Based Perspective. Dissertations in Linguistics. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Kiss, Katalin É. 1995. Discourse configurational languages: Introduction. In Kiss, Katalin É. (ed.), Discourse Configurational Languages, 3–27. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ko, Young-Kun. 2009. Hanwkukeuy Sicey Sepep Tongcaksang [Tense, Mood, Aspect in Korean], revised ed. Seoul: Taehaksa.Google Scholar
Lee, Eun Hee and Shimojo, Mitsuaki. 2016. Mismatch of topic between Japanese and Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 25: 81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2001. The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2012. Ellipsis. In Kiss, Tobor and Alexiadou, Artemis (eds.), Syntax: An International Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Nishiyama, Kunio, Whitman, John, and Yi, Eun-Young. 1996. Syntactic movement of overt wh-phrases in Japanese and Korean. Japanese/Korean Linguistics, Vol. 5, 337–351. Stanford: CSLI.Google Scholar
Park, Chongwon. 2014. The ambiguity and alternative construals of the [X-ko iss-ta] construction in Korean. Korean Linguistics 16 (1), 18–50.Google Scholar
Pica, Pierre. 1987. On the nature of the reflexivization cycle. In McDonough, J. and Plunket, B. (eds.), Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistics Society 17, 483–499. Amherst, MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
Sells, Peter. 2001. Three aspects of negation in Korean. Journal of Linguistic Studies 6: 1–15.Google Scholar
Yoon, Pyung-Hyun. 2013. Kwuke Uymilon [Korean Semantics], 7th ed. Seoul: Youkrack.Google Scholar

References

Han, Chung-hye and Kim, Jong-Bok. 2004. Are there “double relative clauses” in Korean? Linguistic Inquiry 35: 315–333.Google Scholar
Kim, Young-Joo. 2000. Subject/object drop in the acquisition of Korean: A cross-linguistic comparison. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 9 (4), 325–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Charles and Thompson, Sandra. 1976. Subject and topic: A new typology of language. In Li, Charles (ed.), Subject and Topic, 457–489. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Mattissen, Johanna. 2003. Dependent-Head Synthesis in Nivkh: A Contribution to a Typology of Polysynthesis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nedjalkov, Igor. 1997. Evenki. Routledge Descriptive Grammars. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ohtani, Kazuyo and Whitman, John. 1991. V-raising and VP ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry 22 (2), 345–358.Google Scholar

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