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The goal of this project is to modify the locality condition of Korean NPI; from the clausemate condition to the phasemate condition. I start by assuming that NPI licensing is the offshoot of syntax and semantics. Namely, the licensing is a semantic operation, but the locality condition is determined by syntax. The locality condition is revealed by the long-distance NPI licensing context, where the negation is in the main clause and the NPI is in the embedded clause. The long-distance NPI licensing requires two conditions: i) the NEG-raising context and ii) the NPI should be at the edge position of the embedded clause. I claim that the NPI undergoes the A'-scrambling to the [Spec, CP] position; hence, forming a phasemate condition. This challenges the previous analysis, the RtO (Raising-to-Object) approach, which states that the NPI undergoes the movement to the [Spec, VP]. Notably, by showing that a prosodically focused quantifying element does not reconstruct back to its base generated position, I argue that the NPI in question does not reconstruct back, successfully satisfying a locality condition at LF.
Keywords: Syntax-Semantics Interface, Negative Polarity Item, Locality, NEG-Raising, Phase, Prosodic focus, Korean