Covert Domain Restriction and Distributivity in Korean –ssik Across Humans and LLMs

doi:10.18627/jslg.41.4.202602.553

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2026 Vol.41, Issue 4 Preview Page

Research Article

Covert Domain Restriction and Distributivity in Korean –ssik Across Humans and LLMs: Sim, Rok¹, Song, Jiyeon^2*; ¹University of South Carolina
²Hanyang Institute for Phonetics and Cognitive Sciences of Language (HIPCS), Hanyang University

28 February 2026. pp. 553-577

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Abstract

This study investigates whether large language models resolve covert distributive meaning with human-like constraints. The analysis focused on Korean anti-quantifier -ssik ‘each’, which permits Event (over occasions) and Type (over kinds) construals when the sorting key (SRTKY) is covert. Building on Song et al. (2022), who report a Type-biased default attributed to proximity between -ssik and a kind-based domain, a forced-paraphrase plausibility task is employed on 32 sentences crossing subject plurality, object plurality, and object definiteness (2×2×2). The results show that GPT-3.5 and GPT-4o display an overall Type bias in neutral contexts, consistent with proximity, whereas GPT-4 defaults to Event. Across models, morphosyntactic cues, especially object plurality, produce substantially larger preference shifts than in the human benchmark, suggesting heavier reliance on overt morphology and less human-like calibration in resolving covert distributive domains.

Keywords

anti-quantifier

covert domain restriction

distributivity

plural morphology

human-LLM comparison

References

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Bosnić, A., Spenader, J., and Demirdache, H. 2020. Dancing Monkeys in Serbian and Korean: Exhaustivity Requirements on Distributive Share Markers. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 5.1, 78. 10.5334/gjgl.858
Bosnić, A., Demirdache, H., and Spenader, J. 2022. Exhaustivity and Homogeneity Effects with Distributive-Share Markers: Experimental Evidence from Serbian po. Syntax 25.1, 1-38. 10.1111/synt.12223
Cai, Z. G., Duan, X., Haslett, D. A., Wang, S., and Pickering, M. J. 2023. Do Large Language Models Resemble Humans in Language Use? arXiv: 2303.08014. 10.31234/osf.io/s49qv
Choe, J.-W. 1987. Anti-Quantifiers and a Theory of Distributivity. PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Corr, A. 2022. Numeral Reduplication and Clausal Syntax: Grammaticalized Distributivity in Medieval Iberia. Probus 34.2, 317-365. 10.1515/probus-2022-0012
Cusic, D. D. 1981. Verbal Plurality and Aspect. PhD Dissertation, Stanford University.
Efron, B. and Tibshirani, R. J. 1993. An Introduction to the Bootstrap. New York: Chapman & Hall.10.1007/978-1-4899-4541-9
Hornstein, N. 1984. Logic as Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/4287.001.0001
Kamath, G., Schuster, S., Vajjala, S., and Reddy, S. 2024. Scope Ambiguities in Large Language Models. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics 12, 738-754. 10.1162/tacl_a_00670
Kang, B.-M. 1994. Plurality and Other Semantic Aspects of Common Nouns in Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 3.1, 1-24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20100647.10.1007/BF01733148
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Link, G. 1983. The Logical Analysis of Plurals and Mass Terms: A Lattice-Theoretical Approach. In R. Bäuerle, C. Schwarze, and A. von Stechow (eds.), Meaning, Use, and Interpretation of Language. Berlin: de Gruyter, 302-323.10.1515/9783110852820.302
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Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 41
No :4
Pages :553-577
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.41.4.202602.553

[1] Aoun, J. and Hornstein, N. 1985. Quantifier Types. Linguistic Inquiry 16.4, 623-637.

[2] Bosnić, A., Spenader, J., and Demirdache, H. 2020. Dancing Monkeys in Serbian and Korean: Exhaustivity Requirements on Distributive Share Markers. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 5.1, 78. 10.5334/gjgl.858

[3] Bosnić, A., Demirdache, H., and Spenader, J. 2022. Exhaustivity and Homogeneity Effects with Distributive-Share Markers: Experimental Evidence from Serbian po. Syntax 25.1, 1-38. 10.1111/synt.12223

[4] Cai, Z. G., Duan, X., Haslett, D. A., Wang, S., and Pickering, M. J. 2023. Do Large Language Models Resemble Humans in Language Use? arXiv: 2303.08014. 10.31234/osf.io/s49qv

[5] Choe, J.-W. 1987. Anti-Quantifiers and a Theory of Distributivity. PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

[6] Corr, A. 2022. Numeral Reduplication and Clausal Syntax: Grammaticalized Distributivity in Medieval Iberia. Probus 34.2, 317-365. 10.1515/probus-2022-0012

[7] Cusic, D. D. 1981. Verbal Plurality and Aspect. PhD Dissertation, Stanford University.

[8] Efron, B. and Tibshirani, R. J. 1993. An Introduction to the Bootstrap. New York: Chapman & Hall.10.1007/978-1-4899-4541-9

[9] Hornstein, N. 1984. Logic as Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/4287.001.0001

[10] Kamath, G., Schuster, S., Vajjala, S., and Reddy, S. 2024. Scope Ambiguities in Large Language Models. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics 12, 738-754. 10.1162/tacl_a_00670

[11] Kang, B.-M. 1994. Plurality and Other Semantic Aspects of Common Nouns in Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 3.1, 1-24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20100647.10.1007/BF01733148

[12] Law, J. H.-K. 2022. The Mereological Structure of Distributivity: A Case Study of Binominal Each. Journal of Semantics 39.1, 159-211. 10.1093/jos/ffab022

[13] Link, G. 1983. The Logical Analysis of Plurals and Mass Terms: A Lattice-Theoretical Approach. In R. Bäuerle, C. Schwarze, and A. von Stechow (eds.), Meaning, Use, and Interpretation of Language. Berlin: de Gruyter, 302-323.10.1515/9783110852820.302

[14] Michaelov, J. A. and Bergen, B. K. 2023. Rarely a Problem? Language Models Exhibit Inverse Scaling in Their Predictions Following Few-Type Quantifiers. In A. Rogers, J. Boyd-Graber, and N. Okazaki (eds.), Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2023, 14162-14174. Toronto, Canada: Association for Computational Linguistics.10.18653/v1/2023.findings-acl.891

[15] Nakamura, T. 2023. Distribution of Distributivity in Syntax and Discourse. PhD Dissertation, University of Edinburgh. https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/40456.

[16] Olson, C. L. 1974. Comparative Robustness of Six Tests in Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association 69.348, 894-908. 10.1080/01621459.1974.10480224

[17] OpenAI. 2022. Introducing ChatGPT. https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/.

[18] OpenAI. 2023. GPT-4 Technical Report. arXiv:2303.08774.

[19] OpenAI. 2024. Hello GPT-4o. https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/.

[20] Park, D., Lee, J., Jeong, H., Park, S., and Lee, S. 2024. Pragmatic Competence Evaluation of Large Language Models for the Korean Language. In Proceedings of the 38th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation (PACLIC 38), 256-266. https://aclanthology.org/2024.paclic-1.25/.

[21] Pezeshkpour, P. and Hruschka, E. 2024. Large Language Models Sensitivity to the Order of Options in Multiple-Choice Questions. In K. Duh, H. Gomez, and S. Bethard (eds.), Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: NAACL 2024, 2006-2017. Mexico City, Mexico: Association for Computational Linguistics. 10.18653/v1/2024.findings-naacl.130

[22] Postal, P. 1974. On Raising: One Rule of English Grammar and Its Theoretical Implications. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[23] Qiu, Z., Duan, X., and Cai, Z. 2023. Does ChatGPT Resemble Humans in Processing Implicatures? In Proceedings of the 4th Natural Logic Meets Machine Learning Workshop (NALOMA). Association for Computational Linguistics. https://aclanthology.org/2023.naloma-1.3/.

[24] R Core Team. 2025. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/.

[25] Richardson, J. T. E. 2011. Eta Squared and Partial Eta Squared as Measures of Effect Size in Educational Research. Educational Research Review 6.2, 135-147. 10.1016/j.edurev.2010.12.001

[26] Safir, K. and Stowell, T. 1987. Binominal Each. In Proceedings of NELS 18, 426-450. Amherst, MA: GLSA, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

[27] Song, J. and Dubinsky, S. 2018. Event- and Type-Plurality Marker -tul in Korean. In Proceedings of the 20th Seoul International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG 20), 357-367. Seoul: Konkuk University.

[28] Song, J., Lee, S. Y., and Dubinsky, S. 2022. Event- and Type-Plurality of the Anti-Quantifier -ssik in Korean. In T. S. Kim and J. Kang (eds.), Linearization: Proceedings of the 24th Seoul International Conference on Generative Grammar (SICOGG 24). Seoul: Hankook Munhwasa, 166-175.

[29] Tjuatja, L., Chen, V., Wu, T., Talwalkar, A., and Neubig, G. 2024. Do LLMs Exhibit Human-Like Response Biases? A Case Study in Survey Design. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics 12, 1011-1026. 10.1162/tacl_a_00685

[30] Webb, T., Holyoak, K. J., and Lu, H. 2023. Emergent Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models. Nature Human Behaviour 7.9, 1526-1541. 10.1038/s41562-023-01659-w

[31] Wickham, H., Averick, M., Bryan, J., Chang, W., D’Agostino McGowan, L., François, R., Grolemund, G., Hayes, A., Henry, L., Hester, J., Kuhn, M., Pedersen, T. L., Miller, E., Bache, S. M., Müller, K., Ooms, J., Robinson, D., Seidel, D. P., Spinu, V., Takahashi, K., Vaughan, D., Wilke, C., Woo, K., and Yutani, H. 2019. Welcome to the Tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software 4.43, 1686.10.21105/joss.01686

[32] Zheng, C., Zhou, H., Meng, F., Zhou, J., and Huang, M. 2024. Large Language Models Are Not Robust Multiple Choice Selectors. In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR 2024). https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.03882.

[33] Zimmermann, M. 2002. A Compositional Analysis of Anti-Quantifiers as Quantifiers. In B. Jackson (ed.), Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory 12, 322-338. 10.3765/salt.v12i0.2876

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