Honorific mismatches of coordinate subjects in Korean

In this article, we explore whether hierarchy and linearity conspire to affect agreement. The data come from an experimental study of honorific agreement between verbal si and coordinate subjects in Korean. We focus on computing the mismatch driven by honorifically mixed conjuncts. Unlike South Slav...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCanadian journal of linguistics Vol. 68; no. 3; pp. 462 - 485
Main Authors Kim, Jeong-Seok, Jung, Duk-Ho, Lee, Jin Hyung
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.09.2023
Subjects
Acceptability
Comparative linguistics
Coordination (Grammatical)
Grammatical agreement
Grammatical gender
Honorifics
Korean language
Slavic languages
correspondance
valeur
honorification
distributed Agree
Value
accord distribué
closest conjunct agreement
accord conjoint le plus proche
Match
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Summary:In this article, we explore whether hierarchy and linearity conspire to affect agreement. The data come from an experimental study of honorific agreement between verbal si and coordinate subjects in Korean. We focus on computing the mismatch driven by honorifically mixed conjuncts. Unlike South Slavic gender agreement, Korean has neither Resolved Agreement nor First Conjunct Agreement. Only Last Conjunct Agreement is attested in Korean honorification. We show that honorific agreement within coordinate subjects is triggered only when the honorific verbal si appears, which is substantially different from the case with the honorific nominal nim. We also show that acceptability significantly decreases when the last conjunct of coordinate subjects is incongruous with an honorific verb. We thus argue that verbal honorific agreement with Korean coordinate subjects is sensitive to linear order, mimicking South Slavic gender agreement.
ISSN:0008-4131
1710-1115
DOI:10.1017/cnj.2023.18