"Grammatical Relation Changing Constructions in Korean: 
A Functional-Typological Study"

Jaehoon Yeon (SOAS)


This is a functional-typological study of Case-marking, Grammatical 
Relations and Semantic Roles. We analyse Korean data in the light of 
typological universals, to show how cross-linguistic generalizations 
contribute to understanding structures of individual languages. In 
particular, we discuss constructions that change the grammatical relations 
of noun phrases by moving them up or down the grammatical hierarchy. These 
'Grammatical Relation changing constructions' comprise causative, passive, 
anticausative, space-object, experiential, and possessor-ascension 
constructions. Special emphasis is given to double-nominative and double-
accusative constructions, in which the normal correspondence between 
morphological case, grammatical relation and semantic role breaks down.

Ch.1 is an introduction to our methodology and sets out the normal mapping 
relations between grammatical relations and semantic roles. Ch.2 analyses 
the so-called double-subject constructions; it is argued that this notion 
results from a confusion of morphological case and grammatical relation and 
that only one of the two nominative-marked noun phrases should be assigned 
subject status. Ch.3 discusses the syntax and semantics of causee and argues 
that the degree of control exercised by the causee is reflected in its case-
marking. Ch.4 deals with passive constructions in terms of prototype 
approach; the semantic differences between the morphological and the 
analytic passive are explained in terms of spontaneity and intention. 
Animacy, control and affectedness play important roles in explaining 
constraints on subject assignment and the choice of voice. It is also shown 
that object-retained passive constructions in Korean result from 'double-
accusative' constructions. Ch 5 deals with the overlap of causative and 
passive which arises ub=nder specific conditions, especially when the direct 
object of the base verb is a possession or body-part of the causative 
subject. Ch.6 is devoted to the neutral-verb constructions and compares 
their semantic struycture to the causative and the passive. Ch.7 deals with 
other types of grammatical relation changing constructions and claims that 
the difference in case-marking can be explained by reference to the degree 
of transitivity. The marking for the object of high transitivity is the 
accusative and the marking for the object of low transitivity is non-
accusative.