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On the distribution of NPIs in Korean

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Abstract

In this paper, I offer a novel solution to the well-known problem concerning two polarity items in Korean, amu-(N)-to and amu-(N)-rato, that show a complementary distribution within the set of typical NPI-licensing contexts. I present a uniform analysis of the distribution of these NPIs, where the complementary distribution follows from the opposite scope properties of the emphatic particles to and rato contained in the NPIs in question. As the- oretical background, I adopt Karttunen and Peters’s (1979, Syntax and Semantics 11: Presuppositions (pp. 1–56). New York: Academic Press) and Wilkinson’s (1996, Natural Language Semantics, 4, 193–215) scope analysis of even, Lahiri’s (1998, Natural Language Semantics, 6, 57–127) analysis of Hindi NPIs, and Guerzoni’s (2002, Proceedings of NELS 32 (pp. 153–170); GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.; 2004, Natural Language Semantics, 12, 319–343) analysis of the negative bias of yes/no-questions containing minimizers. The current analysis also lends further support to Guerzoni’s approach in that it bears out the prediction that in certain environments, a yes/no-question can be positively biased, i.e., only the positive answer is allowed as a legitimate answer in the context; this prediction was left unconfirmed in Guerzoni’s work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Robarts Library, Room 6075, 130 St. George St., Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3MH1

    Duk-Ho An

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Duk-Ho An

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An, DH. On the distribution of NPIs in Korean. Nat Lang Semantics 15, 317–350 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-007-9021-z

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