• Language and Information
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.103-122
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• 2014

In a so-called cleft (or, pseudocleft), the kes-phrase seems to refer to a person, even though kes is generally incompatible with human beings. In this paper, I claim that in a cleft, the kes-phrase can refer to a concept, and that a concept of human beings is not a person. I give some pieces of evidence for this claim. In a cleft, the kes-phrase cannot be pluralized only when it is supposed to denote a human being. Moreover, in such a case, the NP before the copula cannot be interpreted as the meaning of a predicate. Furthermore, in a cleft two kes-phrases are not conjoined with (k)wa only when they seem to denote human beings. All the observations can be explained by the claim that the kes-phrase denotes a concept in such cases. A concept cannot be used as a predicate, pluralized, or conjoined to refer to objects that are subsumed under a concept. When the kes-phrase denotes a concept, the cleft sentence is an identity statement.

• Language and Information
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2016

In this paper I argue that the subject in a Korean kes-cleft construction denotes the discourse referent that stands for the entity that satisfies the description of the cleft clause. This denotation thereby can be understood as a meta-linguistic referent which refers to the linguistic expression for a presupposed entity. In support of this claim, it is shown an anaphoric expression kekes also can be analyzed as a meta-linguistic referent. This analysis can explain why the subject and the predicate of a kes-cleft in Korean allow animacy crash.

• Annual Conference on Human and Language Technology
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.48-52
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• 2008

The expression KES, one of the most commonly used words in the Korean language, has various usages. This expression is also used to express English-like cleft constructions. It appears to provide at two different types of cleft constructions: predicational and identificational. The paper tries to provide a constraint-based analysis of these two types of Korean cleft constructions and tries to implement the analysis in the LKB system to check its feasibility. In particular, the paper shows how a typed feature structure grammar, couched upon HPSG, can provide a robust basis for parsing Korean cleft constructions.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2009

The expression KES, one of the most commonly used words in the Korean language, has various usages. This expression is also used to express English-like cleft constructions. Korean seems to employ at least three different types of cleft constructions: predicational, identificational, and eventual. The paper tries to provide a constraint-based analysis of these three types of Korean cleft constructions and implement the analysis in the LKB(Linguistic Knowledge Building) system to check the feasibility of the analysis. In particular, the paper shows how a typed feature structure grammar, couched upon HPSG, can provide a robust basis for parsing Korean cleft constructions.

• Language and Information
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.85-103
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• 2008

Like English, Korean employs several complicated types of cleft constructions. This paper deals with two main types of Korean cleft constructions: predicational and identificational. It first reviews the formal properties of these two types and then provides a constraint-based analysis that can be computationally implemented. In particular, the paper assumes two types of noun KES (one as a common noun and the other as a bound noun) and treats the argument-gapped cleft clause similar to relative clauses while treating the adjunct-gapped cleft clause as a noun-complement construction. The paper further shows that the cleft constructions are closely linked to the copula constructions, sharing many common properties while having their own constructional constraints.

• Language and Information
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 2015

In this study, I attempt to show two points about Korean sluicing. First, the semantic source of the null subject of the copula phrase in Korean sluicing is a null pronoun. This null subject pronoun may refer to either the antecedent indefinite individual or the antecedent event of the preceding clause. Second, depending on the presence/absence of postpositions in the remant wh-phrase, sluicing constructions are classified into two different semantic types: i) an equative clause and ii) a predicational clause.