Formal Grammar of Quantifier Noun Phrases in Korean: A Flexible Types Approach

This paper is a description of the syntax and semantics of Korean sentences containing quantifier noun phrases with attention to the principle of compositionality. Arguing against LF-movement approach to the interpretation of quantifier NPs, the following three points are established within a non-movement, flexible types approach. First, about the semantic interpretation of quantifier NPs in non-subject positions, a flexible types approach using type-shifting rules is shown to be appropriate. Second, for the interpretation problem of the sentences containing more than 2 quantifier NPs, i.e., so-called “scope ambiguity problem”, a flexible types approach adapting Hendriks’(1993) ‘argument raising rule’ and ‘value raising rule’ is proposed. Third, for the interpretation problem of the sentences in which the existential quantifier NP in a syntactically lower position has wide scope over the quantifier NP in a higher position, a blended account using a type-shifting rule and the notion of choice function following Kratzer(1998) is suggested. (Yonsei University)