The Principle of Distinctness and Rightward Displacement in Korean

Abstract

Right dislocated constructions in Korean reveal exciting but puzzling patterns in their linear order and resultant interpretations. Concerning binding and scope, for instance, right dislocated constituents behaves as if they were not in the place where phonetically realized. In this respect, the co-related gaps within the host clause are not much different, either. Although not all the time, the clause-internal gaps do not directly enter into the binding and scope interactions. Furthermore, these constructions cannot be a mere mirror reflex of scrambling since the right- and left-dislocated elements pattern entirely different way. In this paper, I show that a simple movement analysis fails to capture this and other aspects of the right-dislocated constructions. I instead propose that all varieties of interpretations in these constructions come as a consequence of syntactic movement similar to quantifier raising, and that their noticeable characteristics of the subject/object-asymmetry is well understood by referring to the Distinctness principle of Copies.