Symmetrically Case-Marked Noun Phrase Coordinations are Not NP Coordinations: Evidence from the Phonetic Experiment

This paper revisits Yoon and Lee (2005)'s two types of NP coordination constructions (Type A and B). Type A represents sentences where Case (Nom, Acc, or Gen) is marked only on the final conjunct and non-final conjuncts carry the nominal conjunctive suffix –(k)wa. In Type B, Case-markers occur on all conjuncts and kuliko occurs between the conjuncts. In this paper, we propose that the symmetrically Case-marked noun phrase coordinations are not NP coordinations, contra a lexicalist approach by Cho (2008), but KP coordinations where initial conjunct licenses a null predicate. In other words, while asymmetrically Case marked NP coordinations (Type A, hereafter) are genuine NP coordinations, symmetrically Case marked coordinations (Type B, henceforth) are larger verbal/sentential coordinations. Other than syntactic and interpretive evidence already provided by Yoon and Lee (2005), we provide phonetic evidence, showing that the initial conjunct of Type B is followed by a relatively longer duration of pause than is caused by an orthographic space.