Ways of Replying to Negative Questions in English and Korean

Abstract

Park, Myung-Kwan 2015. Ways of replying to negative questions in English and Korean. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 15-3, 397-421. This paper investigates the syntax of negative question sentences and answers to them. By definition, yes/no or polarity questions are ones whose expected answer is either yes or no. We suggest that the functional category, termed ∑ or Pol(ity), which determines the polarity of a clause is generated with an unvalued feature, whose value is determined either structurally by the polarity particles yes and no or by default. We argue that the inverted n't before a subject is a realization of the Pol valued as minus by default, and the negation not inside TP functions as either a lexicalized item of the minus valued Pol or a VP-modifying adverb. We show that the inverted n't, the TP-internal negation not, and genuine adverbs like never or hardly behave differently but systematically, accounting for short answer replies as well as full sentence answers. We then move on to examine the patterns of replies to negative sentences in Korean, and investigate why Korean learners of English make an error in replying to negative questions in English. It will be revealed that despite the fact that the inverted n't before a subject is a default realization of the minus valued Pol, Korean learners of English mistakenly identify it with the negation not, resulting in making such an error.