Syntax Lunch: Hee-Don Ahn
Light Verbs in Korean: With Special Reference to Agentive Be and Habitual Be in (African) American English
14 March, 1108B MMH, 12:30pm
Abstract
This paper attempts to explore the nature of the distribution of the multipurpose verb ha
in Korean. It focuses on three issues in connection to the ha ellipsis: the
morpho-syntactic constraints, the tense co-occurrence restrictions, and the lexical-semantic
structure of preceding predicate nominals. I will show that the interaction of various
components of grammar is closely linked to the distribution of ha deletion. I will
further discuss the peculiar properties of the so-called "stative" light verb constructions
in Korean. I will claim that there are two types of stative predicate nominals, and only the
ones bearing inherent event arguments may undergo ellipsis. I will further examine some light
verbs (do and be) in English varieties such as British English, African-American
English, Hiberno English in contrast with (standard) American English, and present some
speculations on some underlying features that may share with Korean light verb ha.