bare objects in Korean- 1 Bare objects in Korean: (pseudo-)incorporation and (in)definitenessi

This paper proposes a descriptive study of Korean ‘bare ’ objects, which we define as those which fail to be suffixed by the object marker (l)eul, commonly glossed as an accusative case marker. A systematic survey of LEUL-marked and bare objects reveals that the latter verify two properties currently regarded as characteristic of semantic incorporation. It however appears that although they are semantically incorporated, Korean bare objects may be fully referential. To solve this apparent paradox, we are led to assume that the interpretive effect(s) known as semantic incorporation or ‘pseudo-incorporation ’ may derive either from referential or from informational deficiency, and that these two types of deficiency are quite independent from each other. It follows that semantic incorporation cannot be regarded as a subtheory of indefiniteness, as proposed by Van Geenhoven (1998)