What Looks Left-branching is Right-branching: Evidence from Phonological Phrasing in North Kyungsang Korean

Abstract

Both possessive and conjunctive structures result in unary phrasing in North Kyungsang Korean, which proves to be a highly marked phrasing pattern, given the preferred effect of eurythmy in phonololgical phrasing of the left-branching structure. Thus, this paper argues for the right-branchingness of the possessive and the conjunctive constructions with reference to phonological phrasing. Specifically, this study claims that the rightmost conjunct of the conjunctive structure is syntactically followed by the conjunctive case marker, hence inducing the branching structure for that final conjunctive element. Supporting evidence for this claim is drawn from the colloquial speech of Modern Korean and the Middle Korean work Suk-po-sang-col. As a corollary to this claim, it follows that the mapping constraint referring to the left-edge automatically spins out predominantly unary phrases.