초록 열기/닫기 버튼
In the analyses of the Korean imperfective constructions, the two types of imperfective marking, -ko iss and -e iss, have been differentiated in terms of whether a progressive or a resultative reading is obtained, or in terms of dynamicity or telicity of the verb linked to them. With such analyses confronting empirical difficulties, a syntactic factor of unaccusativity has been proposed as the key for the differentiation. According to the proposal, whether the verb takes a VP internal subject or a VP external subject is responsible for the selection between the two types of imperfective marking. Many Korean verbs, however, are able to select both types, contrary to the prediction by the proposal. In order to explain their selection patterns properly, it is necessary to depart from the tacit assumption that the morpho-syntactic structure of -ko iss and -e iss is identical. Maintaining the idea of unaccusativity, we propose that the combination of -e with the main verb makes up one syntactic unit with iss and is subject to the grammatical condition that the verb combining with -e iss must be unaccusative or passive. By contrast, the combination of the main verb and -ko is a separate morpho-syntactic unit from the auxiliary iss and it is not subject to any particular grammatical constraints. Seemingly problematic examples to our proposal can be accounted for by the condition that there should not be any conflict between the imperfective readings of -ko iss/-e iss and the aspectual meaning of the combined verb.
