The syntax of 'sluicing'/'fragmenting' in Korean: Evidence from the copula-i-'be'

Abstract

This paper takes a unified Pseudocleft analysis of the constructions in Korean that apparently correspond to Sluicing and Fragmenting constructions in English. We first bring forth matrix 'Sluicing' and 'Fragmenting' that require the presence of the copula-i-'be', unlike the instances examined by the previous works. These cases point to the fact that the Pseudocleft analysis of the constructions applies by default. Second, the adnominal adjective (projection) apparently as a surviving expression is argued not to derive from a clausal source, but base-generated in its place like a usual predicate; this is why the adnominal adjective (projection) to be investigated here cannot appear together with the copula. Third, the behaviors of postposition pied-piping (retention) and postposition stranding (omission) in the constructions concerned, which have been taken to render compelling evidence supporting the analysis of the surviving expression as deriving from a clausal source, more effectively follow from the Pseudocleft analysis of them.