Factors Influencing Subjecthood in Korean

doi:10.18627/jslg.34.2.201808.165

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2018 Vol.34, Issue 2 Preview Page Next Page

Research Article

Factors Influencing Subjecthood in Korean: Ji-Hye Kim, Yong-hun Lee

31 August 2018. pp. 165-178

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Abstract

The present study aims to investigate what are crucial factors that influence Subjecthood in Korean when the NPs with different GRs are in a different position (possible Subject position vs. non-Subject position), especially concerning two selected Subject properties – honorification and copying of plural morpheme. An experimental investigation using Magnitude Estimation (ME), composed of sentences representing three factors (agreement with Subject vs. non-Subject, word order, GRs of NP) in two Subjecthood diagnostics, was conducted with Korean native speakers. Overall results demonstrated the following: i) The sentences with Subject NP controller (i.e., when the Subject has [+hon] or [+pl] feature) got higher acceptability compared to non-Subject NP controllers; ii) Different GRs of NP had less than half of the strength compared to the factor related to Subject vs. non-Subject in determining acceptability of sentences; iii) Scrambling of the NP controller to a different position had little effect on the acceptability; iv) Among the 3 factors, agreement (i.e., whether Subject or non-Subject controls the relevant feature ([+hon] and [+pl]) played the most crucial role in determining acceptability of sentences.

Keywords

subjecthood in Korean

honorific agreement

plural copying

random forest analysis

magnitude estimation (ME)

References

Breiman, L. 2001. Random Forests. Machine Learning 45.1, 5-32.
Choe, J-W. 2004. Obligatory Honorification and the Honorific Feature. Studies in Generative Grammar 14.4, 545-559.
Choi, K. 2010. Subject Honorification in Korean: In Defense of Agr and Head-Spec Agreement. Language Research 46, 59-82.
Dixon, R. M. W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511611896
Falk, Y. 2006. Subjects and Universal Grammar, Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486265
Gries, S. S. 2013. Statistics for Linguistics with R: A Practical Introduction. Berlin: Mouton.10.1515/9783110307474
Guilfoyle, E., H. Hung and L. Travis. 1992. Spec of IP and Spec of VP: Two Subjects in Austronesian Languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10.3, 375-414.10.1007/BF00133368
Hastie, T., R. Tibshirani and J. Friedman. 2008. The Elements of Statistical Learning (2nd edition). Springer: Berlin.
Hong, K-S. 1991. Argument Selection and Case-Marking in Korean. Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University.
Hong, K-S. 1994. Subjecthood Tests in Korean. Language Research 30, 99-136.
Kayne, R. 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Keenan, E. L. 1976. Towards a Universal Definition of Subject. In Li, C. N. (ed.) Subject and Topic, New York: Academic Press, 303-333.
Kim, J-H, E. Kim, and J. H-S. Yoon. 2016. An Experimental Study of Subject Properties in Korean Multiple Subject Constructions (MSCs). Proceedings of 2016 Pacific Asia Conference on Languages, Information and Computation 30.
Kim, J-H, Y. Lee, and E. Kim. 2017. Honorific Agreement and Plural Copying as Korean Subject Diagnostics: an Experimental Approach. Modern Grammar Studies 93, 119-144.10.14342/smog.2017.93.119
Kim, J-H, Y. Lee, and J. H-S. Yoon. 2017. Subjecthood and Grammatical Relations in Korean: an Experimental Study with Honorific Agreement and Plural Copying. Proceedings of 2017 Pacific Asia Conference on Languages, Information and Computation 31.
Lee, Y. 2016. Corpus Linguistics and Statistics Using R. Seoul: Hankook Publishing Company.
McCloskey, J. 1997. Subjecthood and Subject Positions. In Elements of Grammar, Liliane Haegeman, ed., Dordrecht, Boston and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 197-235.10.1007/978-94-011-5420-8_5
Miyagawa, S. 2001. The EPP, Scrambling, and Wh-in-situ. In Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A Life in Language, 293-338.
Park, C. 2011. The role of metonymy in the interpretation of Korean multiple subject constructions. Language Sciences, 33.1, 206-228.10.1016/j.langsci.2010.04.002
Song, J. 1997. The So-called Plural Copy in Korean as a Marker of Distribution and Focus. Journal of Pragmatics 27, 203-224.10.1016/S0378-2166(96)00042-2
Song, S. C. 1975. Bare Plural Marking and Ubiquitous Plural Marker in Korean. In Papers from the 11th Regional Meeting of Chicago Linguistic Society, 536-46.
Yoon, J. 1986. Some Queries Concerning the Syntax of Multiple Subject Constructions in Korean. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 16. Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 215-236.
Yoon, J. H-S. 2008. Subjecthood and Subject Properties in Multiple Subject Constructions. Talk Presented at the East Asian Linguistics Seminar, Oxford University.
Yoon, J. H-S. 2009. The Distribution of Subject Properties in Multiple Subject Constructions. Japanese/Korean Linguistics 19. Stanford, CA: CSLI, 64-83.
Youn, C. 1990. A Relational Analysis of Korean Multiple Nominative Constructions. Doctoral Dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 34
No :2
Pages :165-178
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.34.2.201808.165

[1] Breiman, L. 2001. Random Forests. Machine Learning 45.1, 5-32.

[2] Choe, J-W. 2004. Obligatory Honorification and the Honorific Feature. Studies in Generative Grammar 14.4, 545-559.

[3] Choi, K. 2010. Subject Honorification in Korean: In Defense of Agr and Head-Spec Agreement. Language Research 46, 59-82.

[4] Dixon, R. M. W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511611896

[5] Falk, Y. 2006. Subjects and Universal Grammar, Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486265

[6] Gries, S. S. 2013. Statistics for Linguistics with R: A Practical Introduction. Berlin: Mouton.10.1515/9783110307474

[7] Guilfoyle, E., H. Hung and L. Travis. 1992. Spec of IP and Spec of VP: Two Subjects in Austronesian Languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10.3, 375-414.10.1007/BF00133368

[8] Hastie, T., R. Tibshirani and J. Friedman. 2008. The Elements of Statistical Learning (2nd edition). Springer: Berlin.

[9] Hong, K-S. 1991. Argument Selection and Case-Marking in Korean. Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University.

[10] Hong, K-S. 1994. Subjecthood Tests in Korean. Language Research 30, 99-136.

[11] Kayne, R. 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[12] Keenan, E. L. 1976. Towards a Universal Definition of Subject. In Li, C. N. (ed.) Subject and Topic, New York: Academic Press, 303-333.

[13] Kim, J-H, E. Kim, and J. H-S. Yoon. 2016. An Experimental Study of Subject Properties in Korean Multiple Subject Constructions (MSCs). Proceedings of 2016 Pacific Asia Conference on Languages, Information and Computation 30.

[14] Kim, J-H, Y. Lee, and E. Kim. 2017. Honorific Agreement and Plural Copying as Korean Subject Diagnostics: an Experimental Approach. Modern Grammar Studies 93, 119-144.10.14342/smog.2017.93.119

[15] Kim, J-H, Y. Lee, and J. H-S. Yoon. 2017. Subjecthood and Grammatical Relations in Korean: an Experimental Study with Honorific Agreement and Plural Copying. Proceedings of 2017 Pacific Asia Conference on Languages, Information and Computation 31.

[16] Lee, Y. 2016. Corpus Linguistics and Statistics Using R. Seoul: Hankook Publishing Company.

[17] McCloskey, J. 1997. Subjecthood and Subject Positions. In Elements of Grammar, Liliane Haegeman, ed., Dordrecht, Boston and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 197-235.10.1007/978-94-011-5420-8_5

[18] Miyagawa, S. 2001. The EPP, Scrambling, and Wh-in-situ. In Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A Life in Language, 293-338.

[19] Park, C. 2011. The role of metonymy in the interpretation of Korean multiple subject constructions. Language Sciences, 33.1, 206-228.10.1016/j.langsci.2010.04.002

[20] Song, J. 1997. The So-called Plural Copy in Korean as a Marker of Distribution and Focus. Journal of Pragmatics 27, 203-224.10.1016/S0378-2166(96)00042-2

[21] Song, S. C. 1975. Bare Plural Marking and Ubiquitous Plural Marker in Korean. In Papers from the 11th Regional Meeting of Chicago Linguistic Society, 536-46.

[22] Yoon, J. 1986. Some Queries Concerning the Syntax of Multiple Subject Constructions in Korean. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 16. Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 215-236.

[23] Yoon, J. H-S. 2008. Subjecthood and Subject Properties in Multiple Subject Constructions. Talk Presented at the East Asian Linguistics Seminar, Oxford University.

[24] Yoon, J. H-S. 2009. The Distribution of Subject Properties in Multiple Subject Constructions. Japanese/Korean Linguistics 19. Stanford, CA: CSLI, 64-83.

[25] Youn, C. 1990. A Relational Analysis of Korean Multiple Nominative Constructions. Doctoral Dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo.

The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

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