scholarly journals Case marking in Korean auxiliary verb constructions

Author(s):  
Eun-Jung Yoo

This paper deals with case marking in auxiliary verb constructions (AVCs) in Korean, and investigates how the case marking pattern in AVCs can be explained in terms of structural case resolution in the spirit of Pollard 1994, Heinz & Matiasek 1994, and Przepiórkowski 1999. In this paper, a new set of data involving various combinations of auxiliary verbs is presented to point out problems for both transformational analyses based on head movement and previous HPSG analyses in which the final auxiliary verb solely determines the case of the complements of the whole complex predicate. This paper shows that while most auxiliary verbs "inherit" the case marking property of the preceding verb, the auxiliary verbs siph- 'want' and ha- 'act like' have an additional property of assigning nominative and accusative case, respectively, to their complements. The actual case assignment by these auxiliary verbs is made possible, however, depending on what other kind of auxiliary verbs they are combined with. Based on the complex predicate analysis of AVCs, this paper proposes that complicated case patterns in AVCs can be accounted for by classification of verbs/auxiliary verbs via distinct feature values and by the mechanism of structural case resolution.

Author(s):  
James Hye Suk Yoon

The syntax of Korean is characterized by several signature properties. One signature property is head-finality. Word order variations and restrictions obey head-finality. Korean also possesses wh in-situ as well as internally headed relative clauses, as is typical of a head-final language. Another major signature property is dependent-marking. Korean has systematic case-marking on nominal dependents and very little, if any, head-marking. Case-marking and related issues, such as multiple case constructions, case alternations, case stacking, case-marker ellipsis, and case-marking on adjuncts, are front and center properties of Korean syntax as viewed from the dependent-marking perspective. Research on these aspects of Korean has contributed to the theoretical understanding of case and grammatical relations in linguistic theory. Korean is also characterized by agglutinative morphosyntax. Many issues in Korean syntax straddle the morphology-syntax boundary. Korean morphosyntax constitutes a fertile testing ground for ongoing debates about the relationship between morphology and syntax in domains such as coordination, deverbal nominalizations (mixed category constructions), copula, and other denominal constructions. Head-finality and agglutinative morphosyntax intersect in domains such as complex/serial verb and auxiliary verb constructions. Negation, which is a type of auxiliary verb construction, and the related phenomena of negative polarity licensing, offer important evidence for crosslinguistic understanding of these phenomena. Finally, there is an aspect of Korean syntax that reflects areal contact. Lexical and grammatical borrowing, topic prominence, pervasive occurrence of null arguments and ellipsis, as well as a complex system of anaphoric expressions, resulted from sustained contact with neighboring Sino-Tibetan languages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1221
Author(s):  
Chikelu Ihunanya Ezenwafor

In languages, different criteria are often adopted in the classification of the verb category many of which are language specific or universal. Etulo makes a distinction between simple and complex predicates. This work discusses serial verb construction (SVC) as a type of complex predicate using the typological criteria proposed in Aikhenvald (2006). Etulo SVCs have diverse semantic and grammatical functions. They express benefactive, instrumental, comparative meaning, as well as prepositional and adverbial notions indicating direction using motion verbs. Different types of serial verb constructions (SVCs) are established: the symmetric vs asymmetric type, contiguous vs non-contiguous, and the optional vs obligatory type. The SVC is further distinguished from a similar multi-verb construction known as the consecutive construction.


This volume presents a detailed survey of the systems of verb-verb complexes in Asian languages from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. Many Asian languages share, to a greater or lesser extent, a unique class of compound verbs each consisting of a main verb and a quasi-auxiliary verb known as a ‘vector’ or ‘explicator’. These quasi-auxiliary verbs exhibit unique grammatical behavior that suggests that they have an intermediate status between full lexical verbs and wholly reduced auxiliaries. They are also semantically unique, in that when they are combined with main verbs, they can convey a rich variety of functional meanings beyond the traditional notions of tense, aspect, and modality, such as manner and intensity of action, benefaction for speaker or hearer, and polite or derogatory styles in speech. In this book, leading specialists in a range of Asian languages offer an in-depth analysis of the longstanding questions relating to the diachrony and geographical distribution of verb-verb complexes. The findings have implications for the general understanding of the grammaticalization of verb categories, complex predicate formation, aktionsart and event semantics, the morphology-syntax-semantics interface, areal linguistics, and typology.


Diachronica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte Rosemeyer ◽  
Eitan Grossman

Abstract Auxiliary verbs are known to grammaticalize from lexical verbs, but how do lexical verbs acquire verbal complements to begin with? This article provides an account of the semantic and pragmatic basis of grammaticalization of the Spanish anterior (‘perfect’) [acabar + de + infinitive] from a lexical source construction meaning finish. Based on a description of finish in terms of its qualia structure, we argue that verbs meaning finish are lexically unsaturated, with an event variable that must be assigned a value, whether implicitly by inference or explicitly by a verbal complement. We show on the basis of historical corpus data from the 13th–18th centuries that overt lexical verb complements are initially motivated by informativity: the infinitive is used to describe the event when the type of event is unexpected. However, this original constructional meaning is eventually lost due to the process of overtification, which has not been discussed in the literature on language change. Writers started using the infinitive in contexts in which the finished event is not unexpected. The subsequent development of the temporal meaning is motivated by the failure of listeners to accommodate too-costly presuppositions in a particular syntactic context, leading to the reanalysis of the constructional meaning. Consequently, overtification was a necessary condition for the subsequent temporalization of the construction. These findings shed light on possible reasons for the grammaticalization of auxiliary verb constructions, at both early and later stages in their developmental histories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-222
Author(s):  
Hamada Hassanein ◽  
Mohammad Mahzari

Abstract This study has set out to identify, quantify, typify, and exemplify the discourse functions of canonical antonymy in Arabic paremiography by comparing two manually collected datasets from Egyptian and Saudi (Najdi) dialects. Building upon Jones’s (2002) most extensive and often-cited classification of the discourse functions of antonyms as they co-occur within syntactic frames in news discourse, the study has substantially revised this classification and developed a provisional and dynamic typology thereof. Two major textual functions are found to be quantitatively significant and qualitatively preponderant: ancillarity (wherein an A-pair of canonical antonyms project their antonymicity onto a more important B-pair) and coordination (wherein one antonym holds an inclusive or exhaustive relation to another antonym). Three new functions have been developed and added to the retrieved classification: subordination (wherein one antonym occurs in a subordinate clause while the other occurs in a main clause), case-marking (wherein two opposite cases are served by two antonyms), and replacement (wherein one antonym is substituted with another). Semicanonical and noncanonical guises of antonymy are left and recommended for future research.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Feist

Skolt Saami is a Finno-Ugric language spoken primarily in northeast Finland by less than 300 people. The aim of this descriptive grammar is to provide an overview of all the major grammatical aspects of the language. It comprises descriptions of Skolt Saami phonology, morphophonology, morphology, morphosyntax and syntax. A compilation of interlinearised texts is provided in Chapter 11. Skolt Saami is a phonologically complex language, displaying contrastive vowel length, consonant gradation, suprasegmental palatalisation and vowel height alternations. It is also well known for being one of the few languages to display three distinctive degrees of quantity; indeed, this very topic has already been the subject of an acoustic analysis (McRobbie-Utasi 1999). Skolt Saami is also a morphologically complex language. Nominals in Skolt Saami belong to twelve different inflectional classes. They inflect for number and nine grammatical cases and may also mark possession, giving rise to over seventy distinct forms. Verbs belong to four different inflectional classes and inflect for person, number, tense and mood. Inflection is marked by suffixes, many of which are fused morphemes. Other typologically interesting features of the language, which are covered in this grammar, include (i) the existence of distinct predicative and attributive forms of adjectives, (ii) the case-marking of subject and object nominals which have cardinal numerals as determiners, and (iii) the marking of negation with a negative auxiliary verb. Skolt Saami is a seriously endangered language and it is thus hoped that this grammar will serve both as a tool to linguistic researchers and as an impetus to the speech community in any future revitalisation efforts.


Lexicon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Herlina Endah Atmaja

This research attempts to investigate the meanings of modal auxiliary verbs in the movie The Perks of being a Wallflower. In particular, it aims to identify and classify the modal auxiliary verbs according to their meanings. The data used in this research were dialogues containing modal auxiliary verbs. The modal auxiliary verbs are analyzed semantically and pragmatically. Based on the data analysis, 171 modal auxiliary verbs were found in the movie. The most commonly used modal auxiliary verb in the movie is the modal auxiliary will (28.7%), followed by can (24.0%), would (21.6%), could (14.0%), should (7.0%), might (2.9%), and must (1.8%). From the 171 modal auxiliary verbs, 43 (25.1%) are used to express epistemic meanings, 23 (13.4%) are used to express deontic meanings, and 105 (61.3%) are used to express dynamic meanings. It was found in this research that the modal auxiliary verbs are most frequently used to express dynamic meanings.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 234-238
Author(s):  
Elly van Gelderen

Niuean ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 104-192
Author(s):  
Diane Massam

This chapter argues for high argument merge (HiAM), whereby all arguments are merged above the complex predicate, associated with their theta-sources within the predicate by means of a composed theta-grid at the level of vP. The lowest referential thematic argument merges in specifier of PredP, which derives ergativity. PredP can be selected by one or two applicative heads, saturating an agent and an instrument role. Theta roles introduced within the predicate can be referential or non-referential. Referential roles must be saturated by a syntactic argument, but non-referential roles remain in vP and are satisfied through an operation of restrict, which explains noun incorporation, the distribution of null and overt arguments, and fluctuations in case-marking. All types of arguments in Niuean are discussed, including internal, external, applicative, middle, indirect, and sentential arguments. The chapter concludes with a discussion of argument sharing, and raising, arguing for an ECM analysis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document