Verum Beyond Focus: Comparing VP-Preposing in Korean and English

• 발행기관: 한국생성문법학회
• 저자명: Gui-Sun Moon
• 간행물 정보: 『생성문법연구』제35권 제3호, 345~369쪽, 전체 25쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 언어학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.08.31

국문 초록

This study investigates the verum effect in Korean Nominalized Verb Phrase (NVP) preposing and its parallel to English VP-preposing (VPP). NVPs are Korean verb phrases nominalized with suffixes such as -ki or -(u)m, which retain verbal properties internally but function syntactically as noun phrases. While English VPP has been widely studied, its Korean counterpart remains underexplored. I argue that only the hata type construction in Korean shows genuine VP displacement. In this construction, the main verb hata (‘do’) acts as a lexical verum operator, emphasizing the speaker’s epistemic commitment to the truth of a proposition. This discourse function parallels English VPP. In line with Gutzmann et al.’s (2020) Lexical Operator Thesis (LOT), the analysis draws a clear distinction between verum and focus, demonstrating that they are independent phenomena. By comparing Korean and English data, the paper refines our understanding of verum-focus interaction and contributes to broader discussions on the syntax-discourse interface.

목차

1. Introduction

2. Data Analysis of hata type and verb-doubling type

3. Theoretical Background of Verum Focus

4. English VPP and Verum Effect in Discourse

5. Korean NVP-preposing and Verum Effect

6. Conclusion

References

키워드

lexical verum operator verum effect focus VP preposing nominalized verb phrase(NVP) preposing hata construction epistemic commitment