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The Role of Case-Marked Noun Phrases in Clause Structure Building

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The Role of Case-Marked Noun Phrases in Clause Structure Building THE ROLE OF CASE-MARKED NOUN PHRASES IN CLAUSE STRUCTURE BUILDING BY WOOSEUNG LEE DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Hye Suk James Yoon, Chair Professor Elabbas Benmamoun Professor Peter Lasersohn Assistant Professor Karlos Arregui-Urbina ABSTRACT The goal of this thesis is to investigate the pervasive role of case-markers in the morpho-syntax of various constructions in heavily dependent-marking languages such as Korean and Japanese. I show that Case plays a special role in Korean, unlike in other languages (e.g. German) by comparing the morphosyntax (and prosody and interpretation) of two types of nominal coordinations that are differentiated by the presence/absence of the case-marker in the initial conjunct. I then develop a novel system, which I call the “Incremental C-selectional Combinatoric Analysis”, in which case markers or other combinatoric markers are crucially implicated in the structure building. I also demonstrate how some of the traditional issues revolving around the so-called null categories – both null arguments and null predicates – are resolved; null predicates are licensed strictly by syntax, while null arguments are not syntactically licensed. Rather, missing arguments mean the structural absence of the arguments. The constructions that I am focusing on in this investigation include different types of Noun Phrase Coordinations, Right Node Raising (RNR) Constructions, Coordination under Right Node Raising (CoRNR) Constructions, Null Argument Constructions and Right-Dislocation Constructions in Korean/Japanese. First, I discuss how the null predicate is licensed and gets interpreted in coordination contexts such as Type A/B nominal coordinations, RNR as well as CoRNR constructions. The null predicate is syntactically licensed by the (combined) case- marked NPs in the initial conjunct. The contents of this null predicate are cataphorically resolved when the overt predicate in the final conjunct is encountered. I then discuss the syntax of Null Argument Constructions. Unlike the proposals made so far, I propose that null arguments mean structural absence of the arguments. Specifically, missing elements are not syntactically ii projected at all. Finally, I analyze Right-Dislocation Constructions as bi-clausal, which are composed of a host clause and an appendix clause containing a null predicate. The null predicate in the appendix clause receives anaphoric interpretation by being co-indexed with the overt predicate in the host clause. Before closing with some implications of the proposed analysis, I discuss how to handle sentences with some case-drop or without case-markers at all. I propose that they are asyntactically formed. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor James Yoon, who has given me valuable advice and comments at various stages of my dissertation. I really enjoyed meeting with him on a regular basis, which finally helped me complete this dissertation. Also, throughout the most difficult times when I was on medical leave, he encouraged me to continue research in Korea by sending me papers and comments. Without his encouragement and help, this dissertation would not have seen the light of the day. My deepest thanks also go to Professor Abbas Benmamoun, who, as a department head, has also greatly helped me resume studies after my leave. He has been very encouraging and helped me get a fellowship to complete this dissertation. His insightful comments and questions on my dissertation have always been seriously considered and truly appreciated. I also greatly thank Professor Peter Lasersohn, who introduced the field of semantics to me for the first time. I enjoyed taking his seminars on various subtopics of semantics and also learned about Categorical Grammar by taking an independent study with him. His patience and detailed explanation provided a great example of what a good teacher should look like. I am especially indebted to Professor Karlos Arregi, who was at UIUC for five years but is now at the University of Chicago. I was fortunate to have him as one of my committee members and have the chance to do an independent study and get invaluable comments and questions. I was really sad when he left. I would also like to express my heart-felt gratitude to Professors Yamuna and Braj Kachru. I have worked with Professor Yamuna Kachru as her research assistant for the past 6 iv semesters. While working with her, I had both financial and moral support and had the chance to read sociolinguistics books and papers that I otherwise would not have had the chance to read. My gratitude also goes to Professor Taegoo Chung at Korea University, who first opened my eyes to Syntax in my sophomore year and motivated me to pursue the study of linguistics. All my curiosity and inquiry started while taking his courses, and he was very encouraging and responsive to my questions. Without having taken his courses, I would say I might not have begun pursuing a PhD in linguistics. I also thank Professor Hee-Rhak Chae, who I first got to know when he came to UIUC as a visiting professor on sabbatical leave. I was lucky to get valuable comments from him when I presented my papers at conferences. My life at UIUC has been enriched by many colleagues and friends. There are too many to name, but I would like to mention Juhyeon Hwang, Yunchul Yoo and Bohyun Kim. We were in the same dissertation group and studied together for the last 1 or 2 years when I was writing up this dissertation. Many thanks to Youngsun Lee, who kindly gave me a home and moral support for the last 5 months. I would like to express my special thanks to Youngju Choi, now a professor at Chosun University. Though she was my colleague, she was almost like a mentor to me. I not only sought her advice about my personal problems, but also consulted her with my studies and linguistic data analysis. Her sincere encouragement while I was depressed is deeply appreciated. Outside of the department, I was extremely fortunate to have many friends at the Korean Church of Champaign-Urbana, and a cousin, Kyounghwa Lee, who is now a professor in English literature at Dankook University. Though studying at different universities, we v shared all our struggles and joyful moments. Most of all, I would like to thank my mom and two sisters, with whom I shared all my laughter and tears. Their patience and everlasting love as a family -- now is the time I should return to them. Finally, I would like to remember my father, Youn-Shik Lee, in heaven, who would be so eager and happy to see the completion of this dissertation more than anyone else. He was the best father one can ever have. He gave me nothing but endless love, praises, understanding and encouragement. I hereby dedicate this dissertation to my father. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................1 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................1 2. Overview................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 2: TWO TYPES OF NP COORDINATION CONSTRUCTIONS IN KOREAN: CASE-MARKED NP COORDINATIONS AS CLAUSAL/ SENTENTIAL CONJUNCTIONS UNDER THE INCREMENTAL C-SELECTIONAL COMBINATORIC ANALYSIS..................................................17 1. Basic Phenomena: (A)symmetry in Case-marking in Nominal Coordinations.....19 2. Two Types of NP Coordinations ...........................................................................23 3. Need for an Alternative Analysis...........................................................................39 4. An Alternative Analysis: the Incremental C-selectional Combinatoric Analysis .42 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................81 CHAPTER 3: RIGHT NODE RAISING CONSTRUCTIONS IN KOREAN............83 1. Properties of RNR Constructions...........................................................................86 2. Review of Previous Proposals ...............................................................................99 3. An Alternative Analysis.......................................................................................116 4. Advantages...........................................................................................................128 5. Extension of the Analysis to CoRNR Constructions...........................................131 6. Conclusion/Implications ......................................................................................140 CHAPTER 4: RIGHT DISLOCATION IN KOREAN AND JAPANESE...............142 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................142 2. Various Properties of Right-Dislocation Constructions in Korean......................144 3. Previous Proposals...............................................................................................159 4. The Proposal ........................................................................................................177 5. Summary and Case-Drop in RD ..........................................................................237
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