Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject in Ambiguous Sentences in Korean

Abstract

This study investigates the processing of the null and overt pronouns in intra-sentential coreference in complex sentences that consist of a subordinate clause followed by a main clause in Korean. It tests the Position of Antecedent Hypothesis (PAH), which holds that Ø and overt pronouns have a division of labor and perform different functions. This hypothesis assumes that in Italian intra-sentential anaphora, the null pronoun prefers the subject as antecedent, whereas the overt pronoun prefers the object as antecedent. As Korean is different from Italian in the word order of the main and the subordinate clauses and in the syntactic function of the subject, this study aims to test the PAH to see whether this principle can make a similar prediction for a typologically different language, Korean. Korean university students completed a questionnaire that was designed to test the PAH in sentences that were wholly ambiguous in Korean. The results revealed that Korean speakers preferentially associated Ø with an antecedent in the subject position and the overt pronoun with an antecedent in the object position. This confirms that the PAH makes a correct prediction for Korean as well.

Dialogue focus tracking for zero pronoun resolution

“…The Position of Antecedent Hypothesis (Carminati, 2002) states that null and overt pronouns have different antecedent selection preferences: null pronouns prefer antecedents in subject positions, while overt pronouns prefer antecedents in non-subject positions. This hypothesis has been supported by studies in a variety of prodrop languages (e.g., (Alonso-Ovalle et al, 2002) (Kweon, 2011)). Switching of reference has been identified as one of the main constraints regulating use of zero versus overt pronouns in the variationist literature (see (Cameron, 1992) for sociolinguistic studies of the phenomenon in Spanish).…”

Interpretation of Korean Null Pronouns in subject and object position: Comparing native and non-native speakers

“…Thus, in (1a) the null pronoun has a clear preference for the antecedent in subject position (María), whereas the overt pronoun in (1b) is more ambiguous between the preceding subject and object. Now let us consider the following examples from Korean, from Kweon (2011):…”

“…(In this paper, we use the term 'null pronoun' in a broad sense, and we also use it for languages like Korean that are commonly viewed as being topic-drop languages.) Indeed, according to Kweon (2011), when given examples like (2a) with a null pronoun, most participants preferred the subject interpretation (Inho), whereas for the overt pronoun in (2b), people preferred the object interpretation (SungGi).…”