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Exhaustivity as Agreement: The Case of Korean Man ‘only’

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Abstract

The focus particle man‘only’ in Korean shows different scopal behavior depending upon its syntactic environment. This non-uniform scope pattern cannot be accounted for if the particle is a scope-bearing element. This paper argues that the particle man is not a scope-bearing element, but an agreement morpheme that indicates the presence of a null head ONLY. Under this proposal, the particle man does not carry the exhaustive meaning of only; the null head does. Therefore, it is the position of the ONLY head, not that of the particle, that determines the scopal relation with respect to other quantificational elements. This paper also claims that there is a strong correlation between syntax and morphology (Baker’s Mirror Principle). Thus the relative order among the particle, case marker, and postposition reflects the hierarchy of corresponding functional heads. This helps detect the position of the ONLY head. The proposed analysis accounts for the scope patterns without making special stipulations about man-phrases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Cognitive Science, Seoul National University, San 56-1 Sillim-dong Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151–742, Korea

    Youngjoo Lee

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Correspondence to Youngjoo Lee.

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My deepest gratitude goes to Danny Fox and Irene Heim for their extremely helpful suggestions and comments. I would also like to thank Kai von Fintel, Jon Gajewski, Sabine Iatridou, Alec Marantz, Shigeru Miyagawa, Shoichi Takahashi, audiences at Sinn und Bedeutung VIII, NELS 34, and the 78th LSA annual meeting, and two anonymous reviewers for interesting discussions and questions. One of the reviewers suggested the current title, for which I am also grateful. Thanks also go to my informants, in particular, Soo-Yeon Jeong, Hyunjoo Kim, Heejeong Ko, and Ju-Eun Lee for their feedback. Of course, all remaining errors are mine.

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Lee, Y. Exhaustivity as Agreement: The Case of Korean Man ‘only’. Nat Lang Seman 13, 169–200 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-004-6410-4

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