The Structure and Tense Interpretation of Tenseless -ko Coordination

Abstract

Tenseless -ko coordinate structures (TLKCSs) in Korean―in which a tense morpheme hangs in the final conjunct, while no tense morpheme is overtly realized in the non-final conjuncts―are analyzed as instances of bare VP (or verbal constituent) coordination in J. H.-S. Yoon (1993, 1997) and J.-M. Yoon (1996). According to this, the overtly projected T combines with coordinated bare VPs. T, being projected just once, has its scope over all the coordinated bare VPs, producing symmetric tense interpretation across the board. This paper observes, however, that TLKCSs may produce asymmetric tense interpretation and based on this fact claims that such TLKCSs with asymmetric tense interpretation are to be analyzed as instances of TP (or higher projection) coordination in which a null T is postulated in non-final conjuncts. Once phonetically null tense inflection is motivated, TLKCSs with symmetric tense interpretation may be, but need not be, instances of bare VP coordination. Other options are viable including the following two. One is a TP (or higher projection) coordination analysis, in which null Ts are projected in the non-final conjuncts and they happen to be identical to the overtly inflected T in the final conjunct. Another possibility is an inflected VP coordination analysis with a checking device, where tense-inflected Vs (or their tense features) move to T in an across-the-board fashion.