LIGHT VERBS, VP-MOVEMENT, NEGATION AND CLAUSAL ARCHITECTURE IN KOREAN AND ENGLISH

Hee Don Ahn

Ph.D. Dissertation, 1991

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the principles concerning the verbal projections in Korean and English. In the first chapter, a theory of light verbs is presented, in which the systematic distinction of 'light' verbs and 'heavy' verbs is explored. It is proposed that the light verb is inherently distinguished from the heavy verb in the capacity of assigning theta-roles and Case--namely, the former lacks theta-index and S-case to assign. Further, the light verb construction is claimed to have bi-clausal structure at D-/S-structure, and become monoclause at LF by LF-restructuring. The second chapter deals with the nature of VP-movements in Korean and English. It is pointed out that seeming VP-movement in Korean is an instance of V$/sp/prime$-movement, while that in English is an instance of AspP-movement. In conjunction with this premise, it is suggested that (i) the NP-traces must obey the Empty Category Principle, (ii) the Proper Binding Condition must be subsumed under the ECP, and (iii) the ECP is formulated conjunctively in terms of the role of L-government and antecedent-government. The last chapter examines the principles governing the verbal inflections in regard to the articulated IP structure advanced in Pollock (1989). By arguing against Affix-lowering approaches, it is defended that main verbs in English do raise to the inflectional categories. Then, numerous evidence is adduced to show that there exist two types of negation in English and Korean--an 'affixal' head of NegP, and the adverbial negation.