VP-ellipsis, Stripping, and the Functions of the Delimiter –to in Korean

초록

VP-ellipsis constructions in English can be schematized as S + [NP finite-AUX __ ] where the underlined part is understood to be a VP. Similarly, the pattern S + NP[-to] can be observed in Korean colloquial contexts. Though the English VP-ellipsis sentence pattern and the Korean pattern superficially seem to be similar, the Korean pattern exhibits peculiar properties: Syntactically, the NP of the pattern should have the delimiter -to. Semantically, it may convey ambiguous readings: VP-ellipsis-like and/or Stripping-like interpretation. To account for the pattern at issue, we propose a base-generated analysis driven by the delimiter -to within a construction grammar. We claim that the mother of the NP[-to] in this pattern is an S whose meaning is ambiguous between a VP-ellipsis-like and a Stripping-like reading. Consequently, the code of the VP-ellipsis in English is finite auxiliary verbs while that of the pattern S + NP[-to] in Korean is the delimiter -to.

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