Object preference in the interpretation of floating numeral quantifiers of Korean

Abstract

The present study explores how native speakers of Korean interpret Korean transitive sentences with semantically ambiguous floating numeral quantifiers (FNQs). Previous studies have identified a subject-object asymmetry and proposed three syntax-based hypotheses regarding the underlying source of this asymmetry. Based on the predictions of these hypotheses, we investigated the patterns of FNQ interpretation by conducting a self-paced reading task and an offline comprehension task. The results were in line with earlier findings in that our participants strongly preferred the object as the antecedent of ambiguous FNQs; that is, their reading times to the caseless FNQs were as short as those to accusative-marked FNQs, unlike those to nominative-marked FNQs (Experiment 1). The participants also selected the object more frequently than the subject as the antecedent of caseless FNQs (Experiment 2). Notably, object preference was observed in both canonical and scrambled transitive sentences. These findings seem to support the hybrid approach.