Syntax Lunch: Hee-Don Ahn
31 October, 1108B MMH, 12:30pm
Facts: Non-pronunciation of Case markers on nominals in Korean show subject-object asymmetries at least in two respects. First, whereas Case markers can be unpronounced in complement positions, those in canonical subject positions must be pronounced (a well-known fact). Secondly, object wh-phrases without Case markers can have either D-linked or non-D-linked interpretation, while subject wh-phrases without them have only D-linked interpretation (a fact never(?) noticed before).
Claims: (i) Bare NPs can occur in the complement position of V since it can be a part of a "syntactic" complex predicate, which is not subject to feature checking, (ii) Without the option of complex predicate formation, the nominals which function as arguments must be projected to DP or ΦP, (iii) Nominals without case markers in sentence-initial positions are left-dislocated bare NPs that undergo SubMove (i.e., movement out of DP/ΦP stranding resumptive pro in Φ; cf. Boeckx & Grohmann 2004). Then, only D-linked reading arises in these constructions parallel to wh-resumption or wh-clitic doubling constructions found in other languages.
Implications: In relation to cross-linguistic typology of dislocation, tripartite distinction of dislocated nominals in C-domain is proposed/adopted: namely, Left Dislocation, Topicalization, and Scrambling in Korean (and their equivalents in other languages).