Non-conventional Merge to the right

Abstract This paper examines two types of rightward adjunct displacement as manifested in Korean and English. The paper proposes that the postverbal adjunct in Korean is derived by sideward movement of NP and concatenation of the adjunct, yielding a multi-rooted structure. It is argued that the differences in right-displacement between the two languages stem from the type of Merge applied to the adjunct. In Korean, the postverbal adjunct is concatenated but not syntactically integrated, while in English, the extraposed adjunct is fully integrated via late-merge. Evidence for the proposal is drawn from locality restrictions, root effects, embeddability, and scope/binding variations associated with right-displaced adjuncts. The paper provides novel evidence for the existence of non-conventional Merge in language, supporting the view that rightward displacement is not a uniform phenomenon.