Verbal nouns and light verb constructions

Abstract

One of the most widely used constructions in Korean is the so-called light verb construction (LVC) involving a verbal noun (VN) together with the light verb ha- ‘ do’. This chapter discusses the light verb's grammatical functions as well as the VN's mixed properties, both of which have provided a challenge to syntactic analyses with a strict version of X-bar theory. It then shows that the mechanism of multiple classification of category types with systematic inheritance can provide an effective way of capturing these mixed properties. The chapter also restates the well-known argument composition properties of the LVC and reinforces them with a construction-based HPSG analysis. Basic properties In Chapter 4, we have seen that the verb ha- is used as an auxiliary verb: (1) a. motwu-ka i chayk-ul ilk-eya ha-yess-ta everyone-NOM this book-ACC read-CONN do-PST-DECL ‘Everyone had to read this book.’ b. motwu-ka i chayk-ul ilk-kon ha-yess-ta everyone-NOM this book-ACC read-CONN do-PST-DECL ‘Everyone used to read this book.’ The auxiliary verb ha- here induces the meanings of obligation and habitual behavior, respectively. The verb ha- can also be used as a main verb: (2) a. Mimi-nun cokumaha-n saep-ul ha-yess-ta Mimi-TOP small-MOD business-ACC do-PST-DECL ‘Mimi ran a small business.’ b. Mimi-nun yeyppun kwikeli-lul ha-yess-ta Mimi-TOP pretty earing-ACC do-PST-DECL ‘Mimi was wearing a pretty earing.’ Sentence (2a) describes the action of running a business, while (2b) denotes a state of wearing an earing. The use of the verb ha- here is linked to the core meaning of ‘running’ and ‘wearing’ in each case. The verb ha- can also be used with an activity-denoting noun (so-called verbal noun): (3) a. Mimi-nun DNA kwuco-lul yenkwu ha-yess-ta Mimi-TOP DNA structure-ACC research do-PST-DECL ‘Mimi studied the DNA structure.’ b. ku yenghwa-lul hankwuk-eyse chwalyeng ha-yess-ta the movie-ACC Korea-LOC shoot do-PST-DECL ‘They made the movie at Korea.’ c. ku ilum-un namwu-lopwuthe yulay ha-yess-ta the name-TOP tree-SRC origin do-PST-DECL ‘The name was originated from the tree.’ Unlike the auxiliary and main verb use, the verb ha- in these examples is optional and its absence does not change the sentential meaning. In this sense, the verb ha- , called a light verb, is semantically vacuous, and it is the preceding VN (verbal noun) that denotes the action in question (see, among others, Chae 1996, Kim et al. 2007, Park 2013a).