The Identity of a Null Determiner in So-Called Determiner-Less Languages: Evidence from Null Arguments in Korean

Abstract

There is no shortage of analyses for null arguments in Korean/Japanese: pro, V-stranding VP ellipsis, null bare noun, and argument ellipsis. This paper modifies the third null bare noun analysis to reinforce a null determiner-stranding NP ellipsis analysis for null arguments in Korean/Japanese, which Tomioka (2003) initially proposes (see also Hoji (1998) for the seminal proposal). This paper argues that the null determiner licensing an elision of its preceding complement NP is identified with a non-overt determiner that productively occurs with an overt bare (i.e., modifier-less) noun in Korean/Japanese, but comes with ellipsis-licensing E-features (Merchant 2001). When it is an indefinite one (like the English overt counterpart ‘a/an’), the null article cannot be compatible with the following null NP composed of such an element as a universal quantifier, a numeral, and an indeterminate, accounting for Landau’s (2022) recent generalization on the restricted construal of a null argument (i.e. null NP plus null determiner). When it is a definite one, the null article that comes with a null bare noun projection cannot be, either, giving rise to a non-quantificational/referential E-type reading of the null argument that excludes such an element. Overall, the null determiner and its nature and distribution are shown to resolve ever-puzzling aspects of null arguments in Korean.