Remarks on the Ko Clause in Korean

Abstract

The syntactic status of ko in the ko clause in Korean is controversial in that it appears to be selected by the matrix verb while such regular Case markers as accusative Case markers may not be attached to it. The fact that it is selected by the matrix verb leads many linguists to the proposition that it is indeed a complementizer. Jeong (1999), however, makes a proposal that it is an inherent Case marker with [-N, +V] feature. It is a non-nominal Case marker that appears only with the CP. This squib is designed to explore ko and the ko clause on the basis of fragments in Korean. While two kinds of fragments have been reported for nominal phrases in Korean, Case marked fragments (CMF) and Caseless fragments (CLF), the only one kind of fragmental answers is possible for the ko clause. I propose that ko cannot be a Case marker based on this fact. I also claim that basic properties of the ko clause can be explained by the proposal.