This paper proposes a new case-based approach to some facts observed in complement clauses in Korean. Its core lies in the following hierarchy: lexical/oblique case >> verbal case >> default case. This paper shows that among others, case conversion on the embedded subject in the ECM environment, i.e., from nominative to accusative, follows from the particular conception of nominative as the absence of case valuation advanced by Preminger and his co-workers (2014, 2015) according to which case is not contingent on agreement. This approach also deals with contrasts in ellipsis of complement clauses. In addition, this paper points out that a labeling system proposed by Cecchetto and Donati (2010) does not extend to Korean, and claimed that a moving element does not reproject a label.
The purpose of this paper is to confirm that, in the local domain, Korean reflexive caki is not a bound-variable pronoun but an anaphor. According to Choi (2014, 2015), in the local domain caki has [-speaker] feature, namely, (f(x)) and, therefore, cannot be coindexed with the antecedent of caki. However in this paper, it is pointed out that only the antecedent which has [-speaker] becomes the antecedent of caki. In consequence, if caki is a pronoun, Binding Theory B must be violated in the relevant constructions unlike Choi’s (2014, 2015) claim. Futhermore, this paper shows that the argument that 'caki' is not a pronoun but an anaphor in the local domain can be maintained by examining Reinfart and Reuland’s (1993) Binding Theory and Lidz’s (2001) new approach to anaphors (SE-anaphor and SELF-anaphor), too.
This paper aims to validate the argument that SpeechActPhrase shell structure is needed to explain some constructions with modal expressions in English and Korean. Specifically, some epistemic modal constructions in English and –keyss-, -ullay, -la, -ca, and -ma constructions in Korean, with their speaker/hearer oriented meaning, should be distinguished from root modal constructions in their structure. This paper also shows that simple syntactic hierarchy does not fully explains the scope relations between modal constituents and other tense/aspect constituents.
The purpose of this study is to specify a principled explanation for the syntactic puzzling phenomena of the expletive there-constructions. For this, expletive there pure-merged in the vP-Spec as a defective Goal argument is posited on the basis of Chomsky's (2001, 2005b) Agree-based Strong Minimalist Thesis. In addition, Interpretive Complex (Chomsky 1999, 2001) for the Bare Output Condition satisfying surface structure semantic effects of edge feature is adopted in the vein of Chomsky's (2005b) semantic Duality of the interface and Diesing's (1992) Mapping Hypothesis. As a result, an unspecific reading of associate NP and the Definite reading problem in the expletive there-constructions are specified. The inconsistent role of Probe expletive there is also solved without maximizing matching effect. In addition, the merge of expletive there in the Raising structure and ECM is explained in the same manner. Furthermore, Merge over Move Principle is not needed any longer in the locality of the phase level.
Statistical rhythmic metrics are applied on a Buckeye corpus of spontaneous interview speech in order to investigate the extent of inter-speaker rhythm variability. Tests are made on speech produced by speakers who share the same regional dialect in North America. The choice is made due to the unique characteristic of the Buckeye corpus in that the speech dataset is obtained from the speakers who have been raised in the same region and hence who share the same dialect with each other. Statistical measures of rhythm metrics are obtained from the subset of the corpus. The results of clustering analysis show that the rhythmic measures that capture the least dialectal variance is the normalized pair-wise variability indices calculated based on the respective adjacent consonantal and vocalic durations. The finding implies that these statistical measures of rhythm can be used in capturing the dialectal similarities on spontaneous speech.
This study investigated the family size effect on English word processing via visual lexical decision task with three different groups of speakers, i.e., L1 English speakers, Korean L2 English learners, and English bilinguals. For English simple nouns, verbs, and adjectives, we examined the effects of the type count of morphologically related members and the surface base-frequency on lexical processing. First, results showed that the family size effect emerged in Korean L2 learners, but it was mostly inhibitory. To be specific, words with a large family size elicited slower response latencies than those with a small family size. However, the facilitatory effect arose for bilinguals and native speakers of English. Second, it was exhibited that high-frequency base words were recognized more quickly than low-frequency counterparts, confirming that token frequency as well as type frequency codetermines their recognition latency. These findings suggest that L1, bilinguals, and L2 learners' mental lexicons are organized by morphologically related words along with surface frequency although their effect size differs depending on the amount of language exposure. Finally, building on the results in the current experimental study, we propose a formal account for the processing advantages of words with a large family size under a psycholinguistic model and processing constraints.
This study investigated how Voice Thread can influence EFL learner writing by providing collaborative activities through which learners actively participated in a feedback exchange. The activity described in this paper is creating two audio books on Voice Thread during the semester. Seventy Korean and Taiwan college students participated in this activity. During the activity, the students collaborated in constructing and negotiating meaning. The results show that any types of feedback (teachers vs peers; forms vs contents) have an effect on Korean and Taiwan college students' writing revisions. Analysis of a posttest questionnaire also reveals that students were generally motivated throughout the task, using a relatively new technology, Voice Thread, and a well-designed online collaborative task can facilitate interaction in the target language.
The Acquisition of English Negatives by Young Korean Speakers: A Learner Corpus Study
This study deals with Korean learners' acquisition of English negatives. According to previous research, learners of English pass through a stage that demonstrates the characteristics of learners' interlanguage. Using a learner corpus (KELC), we show that Korean learners progress through several developmental stages before they master English negation. In addition, the errors made at each developmental stage reflect learners' knowledge of syntactic representation in terms of functional categories. Specifically, at the beginner level, the learners do not use auxiliaries at all. As they move to the intermediate level at which the functional category begins to be used, they start using auxiliaries in front of the negator. However, their outcomes are undermined with inflection errors either on the auxiliary or on the thematic verb. Finally, at the advanced level, the inflection errors disappear although still the present tense dominates where the past tense is required. This developmental pattern is in accord with the stages reported in the literature and the maturation of syntactic representation (i.e., functional categories).