Specificational Pseudoclefts and a Negative Sensitive Item Connectivity Effect

Dongwoo Park(Dongwoo Park) 한국생성문법학회 2023 생성문법연구 Vol.33 No.1

A negative sensitive item (NSI) connectivity effect shown in specificational pseudoclefts refers to a phenomenon where the NSI pivot can be licensed by the negation marker in the presupposition CP, even though the pivot is not in the scope of the negation marker in narrow syntax. English specificational pseudoclefts exhibit this connectivity effect, while Korean ones do not. In this squib, I argue that this contrast is attributable to the difference in characteristics of NSIs between the two languages, and that the breakdown of the NSI connectivity effect in Korean is induced by the semantic/pragmatic requirements imposed on specificational pseudoclefts.

Connectivity Effects and Questions as Specificational Subjects

( Eun Jung Yoo ) 한국언어정보학회 2006 언어와 정보 Vol.10 No.2

Connectivity effects have been central issues in dealing with specificational pseudoclefts. While syntactic approaches motivate their analysis in order to explain connectivity effects in terms of a connected clause, these accounts have numerous problems including a wide range of anti-connectivity effects that constitutes crucial counterevidence. On the other hand, semantic accounts of connectivity effects treat BV and BT connectivity by independent interpretive mechanisms, providing a more fundamental explanation for connectivity effects. Yet existing semantic accounts have limitations in explaining syntactic properties and syntactic connectivity effects in SPCs, and in accounting for BV anti-connectivity effects in English. Focusing on BV connectivity, this paper explores how the relevant (anti-)connectivity facts can be accounted for by an analysis that provides both an elaborate syntactic analysis of SPCs and a semantic mechanism for bound anaphora. Based on Yoo`s (2005) non-deletion based, question-answer pair analysis of SPCs, this paper shows that a functional question analysis of a specificational subject, when combined with a theory of operator scope and a non-configurational condition on bound anaphora, can explain various BV (anti-)connectivity patterns in SPCs and related constructions. (Seoul National University)

Connectivity Effects and Questions as Specificational Subjects

Yoo, Eun-Jung Korean Society for Language and Information 2006 언어와 정보 Vol.10 No.2

Connectivity effects have been central issues in dealing with specificational pseudoclefts. While syntactic approaches motivate their analysis in order to explain connectivity effects in terms of a connected clause, these accounts have numerous problems including a wide range of anti-connectivity effects that constitute crucial counterevidence. On the other hand, semantic accounts of connectivity effects treat BV and BT connectivity by independent interpretive mechanisms providing a more fundamental explanation for connectivity effects. Yet existing semantic accounts have limitations in explaining syntactic properties and syntactic connectivity effects in SPCs, and in accounting for BV anti-connectivity effects in English. Focusing on BV connectivity, this paper explores how the relevant (anti-)connectivity facts can be accounted for by an analysis that provides both an elaborate syntactic analysis of SPCs and a semantic mechanism for bound anaphora. Based on Yoo's (2005) non-deletion based, question-answer pair analysis of SPCs, this paper shows that a functional question analysis of a specificational subject, when combined with a theory of operator scope and a non-configurational condition on bound anaphora, can explain various BV (anti-)connectivity patterns in SPCs and related constructions.

Pseudocleft Constructions in English

Seung-Ah Lee 한국언어학회 2004 언어 Vol.29 No.2

[Human] (Mis)match in Korean Pseudocleft Constructions

박명관,김효식 한국현대언어학회 2016 언어연구 Vol.32 No.2

This paper is to investigate the fact that the kes-clause in the subject position of Korean specificational Pseudocleft is construed either as human or non-human, but the clause elsewhere is construed only as non-human. We propose that this peculiar construal is attributed to the (expletive) null operator in the [Spec,CP] of the kes-clause, which can only merge into the non-thematic subject position. The other thematic positions cannot host the kes-clause whose projection is labeled by the (expletive) null operator. They rather house the kes-clause whose head kes with the interpretable [-human] feature determines the label of its projection. In essence, this paper shows that in the kes clause of Pseudoclefts in Korean either the clausal head kes or the null operator in the [Spec,CP] position enters into labeling the clausal projection, depending on its occurrence in a thematic or non-thematic position.

한국어 명세화 의사분열 구문: ‘것’-분열절의 허사적 성격

박명관 서강대학교 언어정보연구소 2019 언어와 정보 사회 Vol.38 No.-

This paper investigates specificational pseudoclefts and their inverted counterparts in Korean in light of the difference that kes-cleft clauses in the former have with those in the latter. We argue that the kes cleft clause in specificational pseudoclefts has a null operator displaced to its left periphery and enters into labeling, its label thereby being composed of uninterpretable formal features. This is how the kes cleft clause in point behaves like an expletive. The consequence is that it is not allowed to occur in a theta-marked position such as the complement of a copula or others. We also show that the kes clause can be analyzed not as a cleft clause, but as a relative clause construction where kes is a relative head. It will be shown that unlike the kes cleft clause, the relative clause construction with the kes head is evidently not an expletive, denoting a non-human entity.

[Human] (Mis)match in Korean Pseudocleft Constructions

( Park Myung-kwan ),( Kim Hyosik ) 한국현대언어학회 2016 언어연구 Vol.32 No.2

This paper is to investigate the fact that the kes-clause in the subject position of Korean specificational Pseudocleft is construed either as human or non-human, but the clause elsewhere is construed only as non-human. We propose that this peculiar construal is attributed to the (expletive) null operator in the [Spec,CP] of the kes-clause, which can only merge into the non-thematic subject position. The other thematic positions cannot host the kes-clause whose projection is labeled by the (expletive) null operator. They rather house the kes-clause whose head kes with the interpretable [-human] feature determines the label of its projection. In essence, this paper shows that in the kes clause of Pseudoclefts in Korean either the clausal head kes or the null operator in the [Spec,CP] position enters into labeling the clausal projection, depending on its occurrence in a thematic or non-thematic position. (Dongguk University)

On the Nature and Types of Pseudoclefts -A Crosslinguistic Study

손근원 ( Keun Won Sohn ) 한국현대언어학회 2008 언어연구 Vol.24 No.3

Pseudocleft Sentences in English

Eun-Jung Yoo 한국언어학회 2005 언어 Vol.30 No.1

소위 강조구문과 "것"의 의미

염재일 ( Jae Il Yeom ) 한국언어정보학회 2014 언어와 정보 Vol.18 No.2

In a so-called cleft (or, pseudocleft), the kes-phrase seems to refer to a person, even though kes is generally incompatible with human beings. In this paper, I claim that in a cleft, the kes-phrase can refer to a concept, and that a concept of human beings is not a person. I give some pieces of evidence for this claim. In a cleft, the kes-phrase cannot be pluralized only when it is supposed to denote a human being. Moreover, in such a case, the NP before the copula cannot be interpreted as the meaning of a predicate. Furthermore, in a cleft two kes-phrases are not conjoined with (k)wa only when they seem to denote human beings. All the observations can be explained by the claim that the kes-phrase denotes a concept in such cases. A concept cannot be used as a predicate, pluralized, or conjoined to refer to objects that are subsumed under a concept. When the kes-phrase denotes a concept, the cleft sentence is an identity statement. (Hongik University)