Definiteness Effect and Korean EFL Learners’ Distributional Patterns in Existential There-Constructions

Definiteness Effect and Korean EFL Learners’ Distributional Patterns in Existential There-Constructions

This study seeks to explore the discrepancies in grammatical judgments between native English speakers and Korean EFL learners when it comes to definite and indefinite NPs in existential there-constructions (ETCs). The experimental results indicate that Korean EFL learners do not exhibit the definiteness effect observed in native speakers. In the experiment, while native English speakers consistently distinguished between definite and indefinite NPs in ETCs, Korean EFL learners displayed varied grammatical judgments, especially concerning definite NPs. Diesing’s (1992) mapping hypothesis provides the theoretical foundation for the constraint that definite NPs are not allowed in ETCs. According to her theory, indefinite NPs simply introduce variables rather than bearing quantificational force on their own, and these variables are bound by existential closure in the domain vP, yielding an existential reading.