Passive Aspects in Korean

Abstract

Tests with aspectual diagnostics show that lexical passives in Korean retain their aspectual properties through passivization, contra the common view that links passivization with a result state (Beednam 1981, Kim 2001). Passive predicates do not form one homogeneous class but have subclasses, just like their active counterparts. In particular, the (in)compatibility with aspectual markers -ko iss- and -e iss- divides lexical passives into four subclasses, and also disproves the thesis that the occurrence of -ko iss- and -e iss- depends upon the argument structure of the predicate (Lee 2008).