• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.331-347
• /
• 2001

In this study I investigate two implicit arguments in English middles: discharged argument and event argument. I argue that in middle formation external argument is discharged and event argument is suppressed. The proposal can account for the problems with the previous studies (Williams 1981; Keyser and Reoper 1984: Roberts 1987: Fagan 1988, 1992: Chung 2000). When a middle derives from the corresponding transitive verb, the subject argument is discharged, being an implicit argument. Argument discharge is different from argument suppression in the passives and argument deletion in the ergatives. I also argue that event argument is suppressed in middle formation. Event argument suppression is supported by the following: (i) The transitive verbs are always eventive but the corresponding middles are stative, and (ii) the middles are underlyingly eventive, (iii) the middles are “adorned” by certain manner adverbials.

• Language and Information
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.49-65
• /
• 2007

Since Perlmutter (1978) proposed the Unaccusativity Hypothesis, the past two decades have seen a flourish of studies investigating the potential validity of unaccusativity in Korean. The central contentious issues have been whether unaccusativity can also be assumed in Korean, and, if so, what criteria could be proposed to discern the unaccusativity among various predicates. In this paper, several suggestions made theoretically and experimentally to address the semantic and/or syntactic distinction of the two types of Korean intransitive predicates are critically reviewed and evaluated from the standpoint that there is a close correlation between syntax and lexical semantics of intransitives. It is proposed, then, that the Korean unaccusativity can be reliably differentiated through the combined semantic criteria of [${\pm}$agentive] and [${\pm}$active]. In addition, case alternations in long form negation constructions are shown to be the most reliable and valid syntactic criteria for testing Korean unaccusatives.