Genitive Case and Complex Spatial PPs in Korean

Abstract

There are two representative approaches in analyzing –uy morpheme in Korean. One approach, which has been traditionally assumed in the generative literature, treats –uy as an instance of genitive Case marker (Bak 2006, Hong 1994, Kim 2003, Lee 2015). According to this type of analysis, –uy reflects Case. The other approach, which has recently been suggested by Hong (2010, 2013) and An (2012, 2014), rejects the traditional view and proposes that –uy is an instance of modifier-marking morpheme and as such links a head noun and its modifier. According to this view, –uy has nothing to do with Case, whether structural or nonstructural. This study demonstrates that there is at least one instance of –uy that does not fit with the analyses of the latter type, in which –uy is treated as linking a modifier and a modifiee. The evidence comes from the distribution of – uy within complex spatial PPs. The way –uy behaves in the context of complex spatial PPs suggests that it cannot be treated as an instance of modifier marker. We then argue that the occurrence of –uy in complex spatial PPs instantiates genitive Case and propose that a segment of P, to be precise the Axial Part head, licenses inherent genitive Case to its nominal complement.