Factors for Preferred Internal Orderings of Korean Noun Phrases

Abstract

This study explores what factors affect preferred internal orderings of Korean noun phrases (nps) that include demonstratives, numerals, adjectives, and nouns. I consider a syntactic account, a processing account, and a semantic compositionality account. I conducted an experiment in which native Korean-speaking adults completed an acceptability judgment task and an online self-paced reading task. The results of the acceptability judgment indicate a ranking in the naturalness of the structures. The most acceptable np is DEM+A+N+NUM, and the least acceptable is A+DEM+ NUM+N. The self-paced reading task found that the np with the highest acceptability, DEM+A+N+NUM, shows the fastest response times, while the np with the lowest acceptability, A+DEM+ NUM+N, shows the slowest response times. The results suggest that the preferred internal orderings of Korean nps are those in which processing is facilitated by two conditions: domain minimization and semantic compositionality.