A Case of Mismatch between Root and Non-Root Clauses in Korean

Abstract

In this paper, we try to deal with the mismatch between root and non-root clauses due the evidentiality marker –te- in Korean. As Kim (1981) claims, -te- plays the role of allowing the sentient to avoid his or her responsibility for the reported proposition. Whereas, as has been claimed by previous researchers, -te- is not the sentience head of the SenP. Rather, we assume that –te- is a modal affix selected by the sentience head with the retrospective feature. Thus, -te- does not directly interfere with the problematic mismatch between root and non-root clauses with respect to the person restrictions witnessed in –te- sentences. After all, our conclusion in this paper is that the mismatch between root and non-root clauses with respect to –te- is a phenomenon in which the sentient as an anaphor has different antecedent or controller in various syntactic contexts.