Argument Linking in Korean Motion Verb Constructions with Special Attention to Measuring Out

움직임 동사와 논항 연결, 재어나누기

  • Published : 1999.06.30

Abstract

Korean manner-of-motion verbs have different characteristics from locomotion verbs syntactically and semantically, and they are aptly encoded as having the primitive semantic element MOVE, not GO of Jackendoff(1990)'s Conceptual Semantics framework. This point is shown on the basis of their behavior, the inability to take the Goal 'NP-lo' phrases, the Purposive 'S-le' clauses, the 'NP-ey' phrases, and the atelic interpretation. It is further shown that the apparent locomotion verb behavior of some manner-of-motion verbs, 'exocentric' phenomenon in their meaning composition, is merely a transferred aspect of manner-of-motion verbs. Three kinds of strategies, transformational, quasi-transformational, and lexical ones, are examined to describe this phenomenon, and the lexical one is determined to be the most appropriate. The remaining part of this paper pursues the possibility of adopting Tenny's(1987, 1994) 'Aspectual Interface Hypothesis' in establishing an argument linking system with special attention to 'measuring-out', but concludes that the hypothesis can be accepted only in a restricted part of verbs, and with a modified notion of measuring-out like Jackendoff's(1996).

Keywords