Language Education Research Center, Seoul National University
Doi
Abstract
This study aims to explain the mixed properties of the ECM subject in Korean
and Mongolian in terms of the Relator Phrase (RP) analysis proposed by den
Dikken (2007, 2017a, 2017b). The embedded subject in the Korean ECM is
known to exhibit both higher/lower and A/A' properties. How can an XP have
several locus properties at the same time? To address this question, the present
study proposes the following insights: Predication relations constitute an
inherent RP phase (den Dikken 2007, 2017a, 2017b; Wurmbrand, 2021); The
ECM subject is base-generated in the Spec-RP position in Korean, which is an
A-position by definition; R assumes a null state or becomes C+R if C is
elevated to R; A null operator (O) binds the overt/covert pronoun in the
embedded TP; The ECM subject is related to the embedded CP in terms of
predication, akin to Browning's (1991) perspective. The proposed analysis
explains the Korean ECM and its difference from Mongolian. The proposal
resolves the ongoing discourse on whether the ECM subject moves or stays in
situ. Additionally, significant similarities between ECM construction and the
multiple nominative constructions (MNC) in Korean are also explained in terms
of RP, a correlation previously understudied in previous studies.An earlier version of this paper was presented in the Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Comparative Linguistics Workshop at University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 2023. The author also owes much to three anonymous reviewers of Language Research, by whose help some earlier ideas of this paper could be further clarified. This work was supported by the Ministry of
Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2022S1A5A2A0103824711)
