Korean classifier-less number constructions

Abstract

Korean is a generalized classifier language where classifiers are required for numerals
to combine with nominals. This paper presents a number construction where the classifier is
absent and the numeral appears prenominally. This construction, which I call the classifier-less
number construction (Cl-less NC), results in a definite or a partitive reading where the referent
must be familiar: ‘the two women’ or ‘two of the women’. In order to account for this, I
argue that Korean postnominal number constructions are ambiguous between a plain number
construction and a partitive construction. After motivating and proposing an analysis for the
partitive structure, I argue that Cl-less NC is derived from the partitive construction, explaining
its distributional restriction and the interpretation.
Keywords: number construction, classifiers, partitives, Korean.