earticle

영어

The C-command relationship between negative polarity items (NPIs) and negation is generally unrestricted in English, except when an island intervenes. This paper observes that in Korean, the relationship between NPIs and negation remains similarly unrestricted, except when an island or tense is involved. NPIs receive long-distance licensing across the complementizer ‘-ko’ only when the non-finite embedded predicate is both individual-level and non-finite. However, NPIs receive long-distance licensing across the complementizer ‘-ki’ regardless of whether the non-finite embedded predicate is individual-level or stage-level. NPIs are not licensed across the embedded clauses containing the predicate ‘–ess’, which denotes a foreseeable future tense. A bi-clausal structure is deemed unacceptable because the NPI within the finite embedded clause fails to meet the licensing conditions, although a higher NPI satisfies the clause-mate condition. The NPI ‘-pakkey’ also receives long-distance licensing across a non-finite embedded clause. Additionally, the paper argues that NPIs of the ‘amwuto’ type are licensed by the adverbial subordinator ‘-ceney’, whereas the NPI ‘-pakkey’ is not. Finally, the paper contends that the NPI ‘-pakkey’ cannot be licensed from an adverbial clause.