Licensing Case-mismatches and dependent plural markers in Korean left-node-raising

Abstract

Abstract Left-node-raising (LNR), as a mirror image of right-node-raising (RNR), is a phenomenon in which the leftmost constituent is shared by the two conjuncts. In this paper, we empirically and theoretically explore two distinctive properties of LNR in Korean: licensing Case-mismatches of a shared element and the dependent plural marker tul. We argue that the first conjunct Case-licensing of the shared element in LNR is crucial across Case types. We thus confirm the explanatory edge of the scrambling-plus-pro analysis of LNR, nullifying previous symmetric analyses of LNR such as across-the-board scrambling and multidominance. Additionally, we argue that LNR is not a mirror image of RNR in that symmetric analyses may explain the distribution of the dependent plural marker in RNR but not that of the dependent plural marker in LNR. Therefore, we argue against a unified analysis of RNR and LNR. We further show that the island effect of LNR is evidence of the scrambling-plus-pro analysis of LNR.