The Syntactic Structures of Korean
A Construction Grammar Perspective

Jong-Bok Kim offers a remarkably broad yet in-depth overview of popular contemporary topics in Korean syntax and semantics.

Jong-Bok Kim (Author)

9781107103757, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 July 2016

360 pages, 3 b/w illus. 7 tables
23.7 x 16 x 2.6 cm, 0.66 kg

Covering both core and peripheral phenomena, The Syntactic Structures of Korean is a concrete and precise grammar of the language. Based on the framework of Sign-based Construction Grammar, it provides a grammar of Korean which is computationally implementable and cognitively viable. Remarkably broad, yet in-depth, it is an outstanding analysis of Korean syntax and semantics which will be welcomed by those working in linguistics and the Korean language.

1. Theoretical foundations
1.1 Derivational vs constraint-based views
1.2 Linguistic signs and feature structures
1.3 Constructions and multiple inheritance hierarchy
1.4 Korean phrase structure grammar
1.5 Conclusion
2. Noun phrases
2.1 Basic properties
2.2 Basic ordering restrictions
2.3 Simple NP structures
2.4 NPs with phrasal determinants
2.5 Conclusion
3. Case system
3.1 Two basic issues
3.2 Forming case-marked nominal expressions
3.3 A construction-based case assignment system
3.4 Complex case phenomena and predictions
3.5 Case assignments in the auxiliary constructions
3.6 Case assignments to the non-nominal expression
3.7 Conclusion
4. Auxiliary and complex predicate constructions
4.1 Types of auxiliary verbs and morphosyntactic properties
4.2 Three possible analyses
4.3 Syntactic properties of complex predicates
4.4 A construction-based analysis
4.5 Conclusion
5. Gerundive phrases and mixed categories
5.1 Verbal and nominal properties
5.2 Derivational analyses
5.3 Inflectional treatment of the gerundive nominalizers
5.4 A mixed-category analysis
5.5 Consequences and further issues
5.6 Conclusion
6. Verbal nouns and light verb construction
6.1 Basic properties
6.2 On the properties of the light verb
6.3 On the mixed properties of the verbal nouns
6.4 Mixed properties within a multiple inheritance system
6.5 Argument composition and syntactic structures
6.6 Dissolving variations
6.7 Conclusion
7. Serial verb construction
7.1 Serial verbs and general properties
7.2 Grammatical properties of the SVCs
7.3 Types of serial verb constructions
7.4 A construction-based view
7.5 Conclusion
8. Negation and related phenomena
8.1 Short form and long form negation
8.2 Reviews on the derivational view
8.3 Short form negation
8.4 Long form negation
8.5 Implications of the analysis
8.6 Conclusion
9. Coordination
9.1 Two main types of nominal and verbal coordination
9.2 Lexical properties of the coordinators
9.3 More on the syntactic aspects
9.4 Symmetric and asymmetric verbal coordination
9.5 Conclusion
10. Passive constructions
10.1 Lexical vs syntactic passive
10.2 Auxiliary syntactic passive
10.3 A construction-based analysis
10.4 Light-verb syntactic passive
10.5 Inchoative and stative pseudo syntactic passive
10.6 Conclusion
11. Wh-questions
11.1 Dependency between Wh-question and Q-particle
11.2 Wh-questions and indefiniteness
11.3 A construction-based analysis
11.4 Key predictions
11.5 Conclusion
12. Topic and focus constructions
12.1 Topic constructions
12.2 Encoding focus
12.3 Focus constructions
12.4 Conclusion
13. Relative clause constructions
13.1 Some key properties
13.2 Morpho-syntax of Korean relatives
13.3 Standard relative clauses: externally headed
13.4 Double relative clauses
13.5 Internally headed relative clauses
13.6 Pseudo-relative clauses
13.7 Concluding remarks
14. Honorification
14.1 Basic properties of honorific agreement
14.2 Honorification in a constraint-based grammar
14.3 Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Linguistics [CF], Language [C]