Abstract
The so-called serial verb constructions (SVCs) permit Case-alternation, causing the goal to bear possession. For example, while the verb sa ‘buy’ in Korean is a simple transitive verb, the verb buy in English is a ditransitive verb, causing the goal to bear possession; hence, the genuine counterpart of buy is not sa, but sa-cwu ‘buy-give’. This helps us to cultivate the idea that the Korean counterparts of the English ditransitive verbs are the SVCs such as sa-cwu ‘buy-give’. This paper is based on Lee’s (2007b) argument the Korean counterpart of the English ditransitive verb give is the verb cwu base-generated on v in Chomsky’s (1995, 1999) vP-structure (cf. Harley 2002, Jung and Miyagawa 2004). The contribution of the v head is the change-of-state predicate CAUSE (Harley 2002), which induces the goal to bear possession; hence, the verb cwu is a causative verb. This is in accordance with the real generalization that only causative verbs in Korean allow the accusative/dative alternation (Jung and Miyagawa 2004). The transitive verb on V undergoes verbal suffixation to the causative verb cwu on v; hence, a dative (causative) SVC.
Published Version
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