Psych-predicates: 1st Person and Evidentiality

AbstractThis paper characterizes psych-predicates in Korean and possibly in Japanese, as opposed to English. We focus on the the status of the Experiencer (or „judge‟ in the relativists‟ term) in relation to other arguments (and higher attitude verbs) and examine the first-person subjectivity constraint, attempting to explain why a third-person subject is infelicitous with a psych- predicate in PRESENT in Korean and Japnese as opposed to English. An evidence acquisition event before speech time is claimed to be accommodated in English. Interaction between psych-predicates and direct evidential marker –te in Korean is also examined. Relevant cause and effect relations and consequent coerced event functions are also postulated for coherent interpretation