Korean Pseudo-cleft Construction: Focusing on Two Types of Kes Categories in the Specificational Pseudo-cleft Construction

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate syntactic categories of kes in Korean specificational pseudo-cleft construction. To account for acceptability contrast of the kes phrase, Park&Kim (2016) and Park (2019) divide the kes into two syntactic categories in the construction: kes as a head noun of relative clause and kes as a complementizer. Park&Kim (ibid.) and Park (ibid.), however, are problematic theory-internally. This research points out problems with Park&Kim (ibid.) and Park (ibid.), including Kim (2016), Wee (2016), and Byun (2020), and makes the following proposals: (a) There are four types in the construction, (b) The kes is classified into two categories: a noun head of relative clause and a noun head denoting property, (c) The noun head of relative clause carries a universal feature.