SHIFTING OPERATIONS BETWEEN SUMS AND GROUPS

Abstract

Korean 'tul'-plurals and bare-formed plurals have been claimed to correspond to sums and groups, respectively. However, possible counter-examples have also been discussed in the literature. This paper emphasizes that the two plurals terms, sums and groups, were proposed along with the operations that can shift them back and forth. Given that, it is not surprising that an inherent sum can occur with a collective predicate and that an inherent group can appear with a distributivity-triggering element. Although there are many circumstances where the two types of plurals in Korean seem to be employed interchangeably, it still needs to be maintained that the two plural forms in Korean are distinguished from each other on a default function basis. That is, 'tul'-plurals are sums while bare-formed plurals are groups in their default value. However, the reason why they can possibly be used in circumstances where the other form of plural is required is that they can be shifted into their derived function. The distinction between the default reading and the derived reading is in order since minimal pairs that feature only the contrast between the two plural forms in Korean reveal grammaticality contrasts as well as semantic contrasts.