Modifying plurals, classifiers, and co-occurrence: The case of Korean

Glossa

Kyumin Kim¹  Paul B. Melchin² 

[1] Cheongju U, 298, Daeseong-ro, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do;U Ottawa, 70 Laurier Ave. E. K1N 6N5 Ottawa;

关键词: pluralizer –tul;    modifying plural;    head plural;    numeral classifiers;    co-occurrence;   

DOI  :  10.5334/gjgl.397

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper argues that the Korean plural marker '–tul 'is best analyzed as a modifier to the 'n'P projection, rather than as a head in the nominal extended projection such as Num or Div(ision), which a standard pluralizer (e.g., English '–s') realizes. As a modifier, plural '–tul 'bears the privative feature [plural], rather than the binary feature [±plural] reserved for a plural that realizes a head. Supporting evidence comes from the fact that the presence of '–tul 'leads to an obligatorily plural reading, while a number-neutral reading obtains in its absence; '–tul 'also shows no evidence of inflectional properties. Appearing as an adjunct to 'n'P, '–tul 'shows certain idiosyncrasies, such as irregularities in the range of nouns that it can occur with. Evidence against the common claim that '–tul 'is associated with a definite reading is provided, which suggests that it cannot realize D or adjoin to DP. The major consequence of this paper is that the often observed non-co-occurrence of classifiers and plural markers is predicted only when the relation between the two morphemes is in 'syntactic 'complementary distribution, but may not be when the relation is in merely semantic complementary distribution.

【 授权许可】

Unknown