(In)definiteness, disjunction and anti-specificity in Korean: A study in the semantics-pragmatics interface /

(In)definiteness, disjunction and anti-specificity in Korean: A study in the semantics-pragmatics interface /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Kang, Arum, author.
Imprint:	2015. Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2015
Description:	1 electronic resource (285 pages)
Language:	English
Format:	E-Resource Dissertations
Local Note:	School code: 0330
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10773063

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:	University of Chicago. degree granting institution.
ISBN:	9781321879957
Notes:	Advisors: Anastasia Giannakidou Committee members: Itamar Francez; Ming Xiang; Suwon Yoon. This item must not be sold to any third party vendors. Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 76-11(E), Section: A. English
Summary:	The main goal of this dissertation is to provide a new understanding into the phenomena of definiteness and indefiniteness in the Korean language. As Korean is one of the well-known articleless languages, the realization of (in)definiteness in its nominal systems has been characterized by the existence of bare nouns and the absence of morphological (in)definite articles. Although recent literature has described Korean as a language in which (in)definiteness is expressed, the semantico-pragmatic nature of these presumed definite and indefinite descriptions has not been correctly characterized. In order to shed light on the issue of (in)definiteness, I especially focus on the function of the Korean definiteness and indefiniteness marker from a formal pragmatic/semantic perspective. I introduce two novel markers of (in)definiteness, i.e., definiteness marker ku, and indefiniteness marker inka. As a definiteness marker, ku combines with an NP which refers to discourse familiar set. I regard ku in this case as a contextual domain restrictor (Giannakidou and Etxeberria 2010). As an indefiniteness marker, I introduce wh-inka as a marker of referential vagueness (Giannakidou and Quer 2013). By using of wh-inka, the speaker indicates her epistemic indeterminacy on the value of x and they cannot be used in context where the speaker has a specific value in mind. Importantly, I further show that the meaning of ku and inka is multi-dimensional and they have a further non-truth conditional interpretation. First, when ku co-occurs with wh-phrases, it induces a scalar ordering similar to EVEN, i.e., targeting the least likely value on the likelihood scale. I consider the pragmatic function of ku in this use as a scalar intensifier. Second, inka can combine with proper nouns and triggers a speaker's negative attitude towards the proper noun it attaches. I treat this type of inka as an anti-honorific marker (Potts and Kawahara 2004). Chapter 1 discusses the observation of hallmark properties of definiteness and indefiniteness and their theoretical background. In chapter 2, I identify the novel marker of the anti-specificity marker, wh-inka. I explore the epistemic constraints that characterize wh-inka as a referential vague indefinite (RVI) (Giannakidou and Quer 2013), in which the hallmark properties of wh-inka can be characterized in terms of the speaker's epistemic indeterminacy. Based on the assumption that the proliferation of marked anti-specific indefinites (i.e., FCI wh-na vs. RVI wh-inka vs. RVI/NPI wh-rato) is not redundant, I show that there are fine-grained distinctions depending on the constraints governing their value assignment. I further show that inka is a historically reanalyzed form of the question marker nka. This can account for why the indefinite wh-inka conveys the speaker's ignorance: the speaker's ignorance induced by wh-inka came from the wh-questions, and the reanalyzed RVIs headed by the particle inka which is originally a question marker are unnatural in a situation where the speaker knows the identity of the referent. In chapter 3, I propose a novel paradigm of the disjunction system, based on the anti-specificity marker inka and question marker nka. The prediction is that anti-specificity marker inka and question marker nka are distinct lexical items, thus distributing in different clause types. Previous literature assumes the interrogative-disjunctive-indefinite affinity as a reflex of a semantic relation amongst disjunctive coordinators, interrogative markers, and indefinites, by introducing a set of propositional alternatives (Alternative Semantics) and later by attributing issues to discourse (Inquisitive Semantics: Groenendijk and Roelofsen 2009; Ciadelli 2009a, Ciardelli and Roelofsen 2011) and by specifying the epistemic model (Giannakidou 2013). I propose an integrated analysis of the two recent camps, showing how the semantics of disjunctive variants can be characterized in terms of interaction between Inquisitive Semantics and the epistemic model in an integrated way. In particular, I show that: (i) the (i)nka disjunction is subsumed and that they are sensitive to a speaker's (homogenous vs. heterogenous) epistemic states; but (ii) the crucial difference arises from distinct discourse functions (providing information vs. requesting information). In chapter 4, I examine the pragmatic meaning of inka when associated with rigid designators such as proper nouns (e.g., John-inka). This is unexpected after the account from the previous chapter, in which the domain of wh-inka was found not to have a singleton set with a fixed value. Without losing its base of analysis on referential vagueness, however, I will show that inka can be a marker of anti-honorific conventional implicature (Potts and Kawahara 2004), and the meaning of anti-honorification induced by inka is independent of the at-issue content. The implicature triggered by inka in this case is assumed to imply a speaker's negative attitude towards a target. As far as the relationship between the two types of inka is concerned, the consequence of the historical change from question marker to anti-specific marker is that inka gives rise to an anti-honorific attitude (i.e., subjectification: Traugott 1982, 1986, 2007, 2010; Traugott and Dasher 2002). Chapter 5 investigates definiteness in Korean. The main claim is that the Korean definiteness marker ku represents another legitimate function of definiteness markers in natural languages, where a definiteness element is adopted for the purpose of committing to a contextual domain restriction (Giannakidou and Etxeberria 2010). In chapter 6, I investigate the case of ku co-occurring with anti-specific wh-indeterminates, where ku does not have a grammatical function related to a truth-conditional meaning of definiteness; rather, I show that the pragmatic contribution of ku can be characterized in terms of scalar intensification. It involves a scalar ordering similar to EVEN, i.e., targeting the least likely value on the likelihood scale. But unlike even, scalar intensifier ku does not have additivity because its argument is the wh-phrases and incompatible with proper nouns. I further show that ku cannot be captured by means of domain widening. The final chapter sums up the main conclusions and suggests further implications.