The Reciprocal Interpretation of the Korean Kule-Anaphor (‘Do So’ Anaphor)

This paper investigates a previously unrecognized interpretation of the Korean kule-anaphor (‘do so’ anaphor), beyond its well-documented strict and sloppy readings. In addition to these familiar interpretations, the study identifies a third, novel reading—termed the reciprocal reading—which has not been addressed in prior literature. To examine the conditions under which this reading arises, an experiment was conducted manipulating two factors: (i) whether the subject and object of the first clause are in a converse relationship (e.g., student& 8211;teacher), and (ii) whether the object of the first clause is coreferential with the subject of the second clause. The findings reveal that only the presence of coreference significantly influences the availability of the reciprocal reading. These results suggest that the interpretation of the Korean anaphor is sensitive to deeper semantic relationships rather than surface syntactic features alone.