Gradients in Korean case ellipsis: An experimental investigation

This paper examines the effects of focus types on object case ellipsis in Korean. A number of previous studies have suggested that accusative case markers in Korean and Japanese cannot be dropped when the object they mark is contrastively focused (Masunaga, 1988; Yatabe 1999; Ko, 2000; D. Lee, 2002). Using evidence from an elicitation experiment and a rating experiment, we argue against the view that case ellipsis in Korean is sensitive to the distinction between contrastive vs. non-contrastive focus. An alternative analysis is proposed which accounts for the gradient pattern of case ellipsis in terms of the interaction between the contrastive strength and the discourse accessibility of focused object NPs. We argue that frequent case marking of strongly contrastive arguments is motivated by the need to identify prominent arguments, while frequent case ellipsis of arguments high in accessibility is economically motivated. It is shown that these two motivations can be combined into a systematic view of case variation as reflecting a balance between form minimization and grammaticalization preferences.