Parenthesized Modifiers in English and Korean: What They (May) Mean

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/elm.3.5816

Keywords:

parentheticals, alternatives, Korean, parentheses

Abstract

Although the semantics of some classes of parentheticals are well studied, such as appositives, there is relatively little work on parentheticals marked with parentheses. Lewen & Anderson (2022) analyze the semantics of a certain parenthesized construction they refer to as a restricted parenthesized parenthetical, and propose that the parentheses invoke and negate an alternative to the parenthesized content.

This paper presents experimental evidence about the interpretation of parenthesized modifiers in Korean and English, manipulating syntactic position and modifier properties (scalar/non-scalar, categorical/continuous). In both languages, our results confirm Lewen & Anderson (2022)’s proposal that some alternative is negated; however, the impact of the modifier properties we explore is different in English and Korean. Our findings corroborate the richness of the (often neglected) semantico-pragmatic space of parenthesized content.

Author Biographies

  • Carolyn Jane Anderson, Wellesley College

    Assistant Professor of Computer Science

  • Yoolim Kim, Wellesley College

    Visiting Lecturer in Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences

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Published

2025-01-24

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Section

Articles