On Some Unique Complementation Patterns in Korean: The Case of Monologual Question Complements
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1606.30Keywords:
complementation, monologual question, grammaticalization, KoreanAbstract
Korean has a large number of quotative constructions that have been grammaticalized into diverse functions in the domains of text and discourse (Koo & Rhee, 2019). Among these is a class of constructions that involve the speaker’s self-quoted monologual questions that serve the role of complement of verbs of locution, cognition, and perception. Even though these verbs are structurally the matrix-clause predicates, the matrix-clause subject typically does not surface, i.e., the matrix clause is subject-less. These complement constructions involving monologual questions (MQCCs) present intriguing features from the grammaticalization perspective. Self-quoted questions characterize a ‘dialogue’ between the speaking self and the thinking/hearing self (cf. Koo & Rhee, 2019, p. 256). This type of feigned interactivity makes a text more dramatic and vivid as compared to the texts that do not employ such rhetorical devices. The functions of MQCCs are not associated with a specific form but rather exist in the configuration of juxtaposed clauses, with contextual effects. Therefore, this grammaticalization involves no formal changes with observable trajectories but functional reinterpretation of existing forms, one resembling grammaticalization as reported in Koo and Rhee (2019). MQCCs not only display unique complementation patterns but also present diverse grammaticalized functions through formal and conceptual extension, including many far removed from their original quotative function.
References
Ahn, B. H. (1964). Hwukicwungseykwukeuy uymwunpepey tayhaye [On interrogative mood in Late Middle Korean]. Konkuk University Journal, 6, 59-82.
Bisang, W. (1995). Verb serialization and converbs - differences and similarities. In M. Haspelmath & E. König (Eds.), Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective: Structure and meaning of adverbial verb forms − Adverbial participles, gerunds (pp. 137-188). Mouton de Gruyter.
Haspelmath, M. (1995). The converb as a cross-linguistically valid category. In M. Haspelmath & E. König (Eds.), Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective: Structure and meaning of adverbial verb forms − Adverbial participles, gerunds (pp. 1-55). Mouton de Gruyter.
Haspelmath, M., & König, E. (Eds.). (1995). Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective: Structure and meaning of adverbial verb forms − Adverbial participles, gerunds. Mouton de Gruyter.
Heine, B. (2002). On the role of context in grammaticalization. In I. Wischer & G. Diewald (Eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization (pp. 83-101). John Benjamins.
Hoe, S.-M., & Kim, K.-H. (2022). A new perspective on factivity and the nature of the complement choice in Korean. Journal of Korean Linguistics [In Korean], 101, 95-150.
Khammee, K. (2024). From objective to subjective to intersubjective functions: The case of the Thai ‘truth’-lexeme. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 28(4), 942-965.
Kim, T. Y. (2001). Kwuke congkyelemiuy mwunpep [Grammar of Korean sentence-final markers]. Kwukhakcalyowen.
Kirsner, R. S., & Thompson, S. A. (1976). The role of pragmatic inference in semantics: a study of sensory verb complements in English. Glossa, 10(2), 200-240.
Ko, E. (2011). Kwuke uymwunpep emiuy yeksacek pyenchen [Historical changes of Korean interrogative suffixes] [In Korean]. Hankook Publisher.
Koo, H. J. (1987). Ssikkuth {-a, -key, -ci, -ko}uy ssuimkwa uymi [The usage and semantics of suffixes, -a, -key, -ci, and -ko]. Konkuk Emwunhak [In Korean], 11-12, 167-188.
Koo, H. J., & Rhee, S. (2013). “I will do it... but I’m asking you to do it”: On the emergence of polite imperative from promissive. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 97, 487-494.
Koo, H. J., & Rhee, S. (2019). From self-talk to grammar: The emergence of multiple paradigms from self-quoted questions in Korean. Lingue e Linguaggi, 31, 255-278. DOI: 10.1285/i22390359v31p255
Kuteva, T., Heine, B., Hong, B., Long, H., Narrog, H., & Rhee, S. (2019). World lexicon of grammaticalization (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Lee, H. H. (1982a). A diachronical study on Korean questions [MA thesis] [In Korean]. Seoul National University, Korea.
Lee, H. H. (1982b). Kwuke congkyelemiuy paltaley tayhan kwankyen [Thoughts on Korean sentence enders]. Kwukehak [In Korean], 11, 143-163.
Lee, H. H. (1986). Cwungseykwuke naycek hwapepuy sengkyek [Characteristics of internal speech in Middle Korean]. Hansinnonmwuncip [In Korean], 3, 191-228.
Lee, I.-H. (1979). Korean particles, complements, and questions [Ph.D. dissertation]. The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Lee, S.-W. (1963). Uymwunchemsako [A study of interrogative particles]. Kwukekwukmwunhak [In Korean], 26, 186-200.
Long, H., & Deng, C. (2022). Do 'say' verbs really grammaticalize into complementizers through clause combination? Evidence from Chinese shuō 'say'. Functions of Language, 30(2), 137-158. DOI: 10.1075/fol.21023.den
Park, J.-H. (1998). Kotay kwuke mwunpep [A grammar of Old Korean]. In Kwukeuy sitaypyel pyenchen yenkwu 3: Kotay kwuke [A study of Korean by periods 3: Old Korean] [In Korean] (pp. 121-205). The National Institute of the Korean Language.
Park, S.-y. (2022). The syntax and the semantics of adnominal clausal modification called ‘yeongyejeol’. Journal of Korean Linguistics [In Korean], 102, 93-121.
Rhee, S. (2007). Particle selection in Korean auxiliary formation. In R. Aranovich (Ed.), Split auxiliary systems (pp. 237-254). John Benjamins.
Rhee, S. (2009). Through a borrowed mouth: Reported speech and subjectification in Korean. LACUS Forum, 34, 201-210.
Rhee, S. (2014). “I know you are not, but if you were asking me”: On emergence of discourse markers of topic presentation from hypothetical questions, Journal of Pragmatics, 60, 1-16. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.10.005
Rhee, S. (2019a). From false promises, fake quotations, and feigned questions into grammar: Grammaticalization of manipulative discourse strategies. Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 25, 1-20.
Rhee, S. (2019b). On polygrammaticalization of see-derived auxiliaries in Korean. Discourse and Cognition, 26(2), 91-119.
Rhee, S. (2020). Grammaticalization in Korean. In W. Bisang & A. Malchukov (Eds.), Grammaticalization scenarios: Cross-linguistic variation and universal tendencies. Volume 1: Grammaticalization scenarios from Europe and Asia (pp. 575-608). Mouton De Gruyter.
Rhee, S. (2021). The journey of thinking: From subjectivity to textuality and to intersubjectivity. In G. Danon (Ed.), Proceedings of IATL 34-35: Papers from the 34th and 35th Conferences of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics (published as MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 92, pp. 157-173). The MIT Press.
Rhee, S. (2022). Grammaticalization in Korean. In S. Cho & J. Whitman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of Korean linguistics (pp. 659-688). Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781108292351
Rhee, S. (2025). Soliloquy in grammaticalization: The case in Korean. Paper presented at the 19th International Pragmatics Conference, Brisbane, Australia, June 22-27, 2025.
Rhee, S., & Koo, H. J. (2017). Audience-blind sentence-enders in Korean: A discourse-pragmatic perspective. Journal of Pragmatics, 120, 101-121. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2017.09.002
Rhee, S., & Koo, H. J. (2020). From quotation to surprise: The case in Korean. Journal of Pragmatics, 155, 83-100. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.10.006
Rhee, S., & Kuteva, T. (2026). Apprehensional markers in Korean. In M. Faller, M. Vuillermet, & E. Schultze-Berndt (Eds.), Apprehensional Constructions in a Cross-linguistic Perspective. Language Science Press.
Schultze-Berndt, E. (2015). The grammar of fear in Australian languages and beyond. Seminar lecture at the Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, CNRS, April 3, 2015.
Song, J.-m. (2018). The development of ‘-tanta’ type suffixes – related with the creation of the quotative marker ‘-ko’. Journal of Korean Linguistics [In Korean], 102, 93-121.
van Bogaert, J. (2011). I think and other complement-taking mental predicates: A case of and for constructional grammaticalization. Linguistics, 49(2), 295–332.
Van der Auwera, J. (1985). The predicative relatives of French perception verbs. In A. M. Bolkestein, C. de Groot, & J. L. Mackenzie (Eds.), Predicates and terms in Functional Grammar (pp. 219-234). Foris publications.
Vuillermet, M. (2018). Grammatical fear morphemes in Ese Ejja: making the case for a morphosemantic apprehensional domain. Studies in Language, 42(1), 256-293. DOI: 10.1075/sl.00010.vui
Yae, S., Kuteva, T., & Rhee, S. (2023). From fear to grammar: The case of avoidives. Lingua, 288, 1-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2023.103526
