On Some Asymmetries of Syntactic Extraction in Double Accusative Constructions in Korean

Abstract

This paper investigates certain asymmetrical behaviors of the two Acc-marked NPs in Double Accusative Constructions (DAC). It is observed that the two NPs exhibit non- uniform patterns with respect to scrambling, clefting and relativization: While in alienable DACs, the second NP appears to resist these syntactic extractions, in inalienable DACs it appears to resist only scrambling. I claim that the asymmetries arise from processing effects. Extending Bae and Park (2018) and B-S Park (2019), I suggest that the parser strongly tends to choose an overt NP when it competes with a trace/gap for a potentially matching predicate. This results in the apparent, syntactic resistance in alienable DACs. In inalienable DACs, however, the ‘ignored’ trace can be reinvoked due to reanalysis for clefting and relativization, but not for scrambling. I also explore the possibility that the proposed account can extend to Double Nominative Constructions.