Formation Principles and Change Factors of Korean Complex Predicate Constructions

Abstract

Korean complex predicate constructions(henceforth CPCs) can be cross-classified with various types, according to case marker/particle realization, expandability of CPCs’ constituents, polysemy of CPCs’ noun, semantic bleaching degree of CPCs’ verbs/adjectives, etc. The wordhood of Korean CPCs vary depending on the types of CPCs. I accounted for the differences observed on the wordhood of Korean CPCs from the perspective of word-formation and described the synchronic formation and change of Korean CPCs. Korean CPCs are formed synchronically through the concatenative process that occurs when clauses are formed in the syntactic component or the substitutional process and concatenative process in the mental lexicon. Korean CPCs which are formed in the mental lexicon are more likely to be word-like, while CPCs which are formed in the syntactic component are more likely to phrase-like. Korean CPCs that are formed synchronically are used in the syntactic component and experiences formal, semantic, and categorial changes. The formal and semantic change of Korean CPCs are related to the realization of the case-marker/particle and metaphor/metonymy, respectively, and the categorial change of Korean CPCs is due to reanalysis. Because of these changes, I pointed out that the wordhood of the Korean CPCs may decrease or increase.