간접효과와 정보구조

위혜경 한국언어학회 2007 언어 Vol.32 No.4

A Semantic Account of Matrix Scope of a wh-phrase in a wh-island in Korean and English

위혜경 한국영어학회 2019 영어학 Vol.19 No.4

This study investigates possibility of matrix scope interpretation of a wh-phrase occurring in a wh-island clause, with two types of predicates in Korean, i.e., alta ‘know’ and kwungkumhata ‘wonder’, in comparison to its English counterpart where a wh-phrase is extracted from a wh-island. It is shown that i) in the out-of-the-blue context, alta does not readily allow matrix scope of an embedded wh-phrase in Korean whereas know allows extraction of a wh-phrase out of the embedded wh-clause in English, but in a proper context, Korean also allows a wh-phrase to have the matrix scope interpretation just like English, ii) different acceptabilities of the interrogatives with a degree wh-phrase occurring in a wh-island with these two verbs in Korean can be accounted for by the semantic analysis proposed for English by Abrusan (2014), which is based on different satisfactions of exhaustifiability conditions resulting from different semantic properties of the two verbs, and iii) due to different semantic and presuppositional properties of know and wonder, know more strictly prohibits a wh-phrase from having the matrix scope out of an embedded wh-clause than wonder not only for degree wh-phrases but also for non-degree wh-phrases.

언어 능력과 자연어 처리: 자연인가 경험인가?

위혜경 국제언어인문학회 2019 인문언어 Vol.21 No.2

This study reviews two opposing theories regarding human language competence, i.e. the logical nativism vs. empiricism, which is reminiscent of the so-called ‘nature vs. nurture’ dispute originating from Plato’s dialogues. Generative grammar is the representative linguistic theory that embodies the idea of logical nativism, whereas Constructivist theory is the typical experience-based linguistic approach. Connectionist model (deep learning), the leading methodology of current NLP(natural language processing), is reconsidered with respect to the two theories of language competence aforementioned and the empirical nature of deep learning devise is confirmed. By reviewing possibilities and limitations of integration of the empirical approach of connectionism and the rule-based approach of theoretical linguistics discussed by Pater (2019) and others, it is concluded that a hybrid approach is in need. Two additional factors supporting the hybrid approach are provided, one for a proper explanation of the difference between native language acquisition and foreign language acquisition and the other from the empirical nature incorporated in Montague semantics which is fundamentally a rule-based linguistic theory.

보편 논쟁과 언어

위혜경 국제언어인문학회 2022 인문언어 Vol.24 No.2

This study introduces the so-called Problem of Universals, which was a very controversial issue among medieval philosophers and theologists regarding the question of which is the real substance between the universals and the particulars, and the two opposing views on it, i.e., the Universal Realism that considers the universals to be more fundamental and the Nominalism that views the particulars but not the universals to be real. It is shown that this debate is deeply related with the meaning of language, especially the differences of meaning between Korean and English nouns, and reflected in Catholicity and Buddhism and also in the difference of Asian and European views on the world.

분열문의 의미와 초점 후치사의 수의성

위혜경 서울대학교 언어교육원 2015 語學硏究 Vol.51 No.3

This study proposes that there are two distinct semantic types of Korean kes-cleft sentences, one an equative clause and the other a predicational clause in the sense of Higgins (1979). It is claimed that this distinction is based on the presence/absence of postpositions in the pivot phrase of a kes-cleft. The semantic and syntactic derivational process for each type is provided, which can capture the difference of these two semantic types and the two widely known semantic interpretations of cleft constructions, i.e., existential presupposition and exhaustivity interpretation.

극성의문문의 초점

위혜경 한국언어정보학회 2022 언어와 정보 Vol.26 No.2

This squib investigates the semantic value, discourse context, syntactic structure and prosody of a polar question with a focus (F-polQ) in Korean, e.g., JONF-i oassni? ‘Did JOHNF come?’, which has not been paid much attention to. First we observe that in generating an alternative set, an F-polQ goes with a focused declarative sentence (F-Decl) on the one hand, and in that its ordinary semantic value is the set of positive and negative propositions, {p, ￢p}, it goes with an ordinary polar question on the other. Based on this, this study shows that i) the alternative set of propositions generated by an F-polQ refers to the presupposed wh-question, just like an F-Decl does, and that ii) whereas the wh-Question that provides a proper context for an occurrence of a F-Decl originates from the hearer part, forming a question-answer dialogue, the wh-Question generated by a F-polQ, indicated by the prosody of L- phrase accent, originates from the speaker part. Additionally, it is suggested that the rising boundary tone H% indicates the source of the wh-question presupposed by the F-polQ is the speaker herself.

Ambiguity of Response Particles to Negative Utterances in Korean and English

위혜경 서울대학교 언어교육원 2019 語學硏究 Vol.55 No.3

This study explores the ambiguity of Korean response particles (RP) ung ‘yes’ and ani ‘no’ responding to long form negation (LFN), in comparison to the ambiguity of RPs to the so-called “high negation” and “low negation” in English. The results show that i) the ambiguity of Korean LFN is due to two possible interpretations, i.e., pragmatic and literal, ii) Korean RPs are anaphors, supporting Krifka’s (2013) propositional anaphoric approach to English RPs, but iii) they refer to only one antecedent from the preceding proposition, that is, for the outermost NegP only, for both SFN (short form negation) and LFN. In contrast, the ambiguity of English high negation is two-fold. One type of ambiguity is due to the two possible interpretations of high negation, pragmatic versus literal, just like Korean; the other type of ambiguity occurs within the literal meaning of high negation and is due to the availability of multiple antecedents, just like with English low negation.

극성 선택 의문문과 극성 초점

위혜경 한국언어정보학회 2023 언어와 정보 Vol.27 No.2

This study analyzes the phenomenon known as Verum Focus as a polarity focus, which is an answer to a polar alternative question. The problems of the explanation based on the VERUM operator by Romero and Han (2004) and the proposal of Wilder (2013) and Samko (2016) to use a polar question as a licensing condition for VF are reviewed. It is then shown that Goodhue’s (2018) proposal for a contrasting polar proposition as a condition for VF cannot properly account for the presupposed QUD (Question under Discussion) regarding the choice between the positive and negative polar alternatives associated with VF. It is claimed that interrogative sentences corresponding to such a QUD should be polar alternative questions with bipolar denotations rather than normal polar questions with monopolar denotations. Additionally, it is shown that the interpretation of VF can be accounted for as polarity focus under a standard analysis of general focus such as Rooth (1992). Furthermore, it is shown that the proposed analysis provides an explanation of the biased meaning that arises in questions with VF.

Function of Focus as the Semantic Predicate

위혜경 한국영어학회 2004 영어학 Vol.4 No.4

This study proposes an analysis for focus that can reflect a long-lasting intuition, i.e., the idea that focus functions as a predicate, that started from Paul (1880) and has been found in an array of researches including Lambrecht (1994), Krifka (1999), Rullman (1994), Jackendoff (1972), and Chomsky (1971). The analysis adopts wee (1999) that incorporates the idea that focus can secretly change the semantic subject-predicate structure of a sentence, yielding a propositional content possibly different from the surface default proposition, following Prague linguists such as Peregrin (1995) and Sgall et al (1986), as opposed to the major theories of focus developed by post-MG semanticists (e.g. Rooth 1985, Partee 1991, Krifka 1991). It is shown that the meaning of focus occurring in combination of focus sensitive operators can be explained by the interaction of the general meaning of free focus and the meaning of focus sensitive operator.

Information Structure of English Middles

위혜경 한국영어학회 2006 영어학 Vol.6 No.3

Wee, Hae-Kyung Wee 2006. Information Structure of English Middles. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 6-3, 597-614. This study proposes a discourse and semantic analysis for English Middle constructions that can incorporate the semantic properties that h·ave been found in various researches: i) English middles usually require modification such as an adverb, focus, or modal expression. ii) Middle constructions are generic statements that depict inherent permanent properties of the subject NPs by an inidividual-level predication. iii) Generic operator quantifies over the event expressed by the predicate of the middle sentence. It is shown that an interaction of the pragmatic information structure and the sentential semantic condition yield a proper interpretation of the English middles. The proper semantic interpretation is obtained by the well-formed semantic structure combined with an analysis of focus, incorporating generic quantification over the event.