The scalar intensifier ku in Korean : The case of KUintensifier with anti-specific wh-indeterminates

Abstract

The purpose of thispaper is to present the account of the novel function of ku in Korean. I will focus on theemphatic variant of ku co-occurring with anti-specific wh-indeterminates (i.e., Free ChoiceItems, Negative Polarity Items, Referential Vagueness Items), which has generallyreceived less attention than the definite one. I suggest that the meaning of ku in this caseis not associated with the core property of definiteness. Instead, given the set ofempirical data, my proposal is that (i) the hallmark properties of emphatic ku aresuggested as a) scalarity, b) additivity, c) weak polarity, and (ii) the pragmaticcontribution of the emphatic ku can be characterized in terms of scalar intensifier. Thescalar intensifier ku contributes the presupposition that there is a set of alternatives ofanti-specific wh-indeterminates which is base-α, and that these alternatives are ranked ona scale. Its scalar presupposition denotes the least likely values on the likelihood scale. The implication of my finding leads to the fact that Korean is a language which revealsa dichotomy in encoding distinct type of weak familiarity (i.e., the scalar intensifier ku)and strong familiarity (i.e., the definite ku).