The Dual Nature of N-pakkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to question the properties of N-pakkey ‘only N’ in Korean as an NPI. In order to accomplish this research purpose, this paper revisits the licensing properties of N-pakkey, which do not belong to those of typical NPIs. This paper argues that the status of N-pakkey as an NPI is not definitive unlike other types of NPIs in Korean (cf. Chung, 1993; Yeom, 2015) and suggests that the NPI status of N-pakkey is not conclusive but rather in the transitional status between an NPI and a non-PI. In terms of licensing, N-pakkey occurs in more restricted antiveridical contexts as an NPI, whereas N-pakkey also occurs in affirmatives as a non-PI. This paper argues that the apparent non-PI status of N-pakkey is pragmatically determined when the interpretation of N-pakkey introduces a pragmatically possible alternative set in discourse, which leads to a contrastive interpretation of N-pakkey (Lee, 1999, 2003, 2006). This idea is supported by the fact that the topic marker -nun or the additive particle -to ‘even’ allows N-pakkey to appear in affirmatives.