6. Notional asymmetry in syntactic symmetry: Connective and accessibility marker interactions
The present paper argues that the distinction between symmetric- and asymmetric-event descriptions determines the pronominal reference in the conjoined structure “S1. discourse connective + S2.” with a pronoun in the S2. Symmetric-event descriptions presuppose an entity which does two things or to which two things are done. Asymmetric-event descriptions evoke an expectation that certain events/states will follow the event/state coded in S1. In asymmetric-event descriptions, the high-accessibility marker refers to the entity that lies inside the expectation, while the low-accessibility marker refers to the entity outside the expectation. We further show that the same phenomena with a different type of discourse connectives (Japanese suruto and Korean geureoja) can also be fully dealt with in the proposed account.