Processing NPIs in Korean: ERP Evidence for Their Differences

Abstract

Park Myung-Kwan, Cho Euiyon & Chung Wonil. 2017. Processing NPIs in Korean: ERP Evidence for Their Differences. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 42-4, 663-690. This paper used the neuro-linguistic, event-related potential (ERP) experimental methodology to investigate the sentence processing of the two negative polarity items (NPIs) in Korean such as amwu+N+to ‘any + N’ and te isang ‘any longer/further.’Our starting point is the descriptive and theoretical analyses of the two NPIs at issue. They are established as NPIs that require a licensing element for their distribution within a sentence, but they differ in terms of the type of licensing elements. Manipulating the structural environments, we recorded the neural responses to the verbal complexes that can or cannot license the NPIs. We found that, first, N400 was evoked by both of the NPIs in the illegal environments like a positive clause. Since N400 is regarded as a neural index of incomplete semantic integration, it follows that the Korean NPIs’ licensee-licensor relation is resolved via semantic processes. Second, amwu+N+to–containing question and -ki cen-ey ‘before’clauses as well as positive clauses elicited N400, whereas te isang–containing question and -ki cen-ey ‘before’ clauses elicited anterior P600. We take the latter anterior P600 component to reflect not a violation of NPI licensing but a cognitive load of discourse/pragmatic processing due to the lexical meaning of te isang. Third, directly comparing the two NPIs in terms of neural profiles, we find that amwu+N+to undergoes a full gamut of semantic retrieval and integration, thus cognitively more demanding than te isang in the course of their processing. (Dongguk University)