On the Syntax of Multiple Fragments in Korean

Abstract

On the Syntax of Multiple Fragments in Korean. Studies in Modern Grammar 80, 1-22. This paper examines multiple Fragmenting in Korean to argue that it can be accounted for in the most effective way by the thesis that Fragmenting applies to cleft structure. We first propose that the underlying structure of the single or multiple fragment answer is the cleft construction where the copula links the subject cleft clause and the pre-copula inferential cleft clause. In deriving its surface structure, the former clause takes the pro strategy in identity with the preceding question sentence, and the latter clause allows survivor(s) to escape out to the periphery of it, which undergoes clausal ellipsis. This conception of the fragment construction sheds new lights on accounting for some peculiar effects of the overt or the covert copula on the immediately preceding Case marker/postposition-less survivor. In addition, this paper provides an explanation for the now celebrated clausemate requirement for the survivors in the construction at issue.