Re-binding Puzzles in Korean VP-anaphora: Evidence for the PF-LF Interface

Abstract

Ha, Seungwan. 2010. Re-binding Puzzles in Korean VP-anaphora: Evidence for the PF-LF Interface. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 35-2, 471-487. This paper aims to resolve re-binding puzzles in Korean VP-anaphora. The previous literature has demonstrated that re-binding becomes available in English ellipsis constructions when the focused constituent intervenes between the re-binder and re-bound variable. In this paper, we argue that the same does not hold in Korean, in that the matrix subject fails to re-bind a bound variable in the embedded clause even in the presence of Intervening Focus. We argue that the cross-linguistic difference between English and Korean is attributed to their different linear order. While focus intervenes the variable-binding relationship in linear order in English, this is not necessarily the case in Korean. We conclude that re-binding is constrained in the PF-LF interface, so that the location of focus in the linear string affects variable-binding. We argue that this resolves the cross-linguistic puzzle with regards to re-binding. (Korea University)