Morphosyntactic categorization of adjectives in Korean : diplomsko delo

Kelih, Žan (author), Ryu, Hyeonsook (mentor), Živanović, Sašo (mentor)

The thesis examines the morphosyntactic status of Korean adjectives, whose extensive overlap with verbal morphology has sparked a longstanding debate between the Korean descriptive tradition, which recognizes them as a distinct part of speech, and the formaltypological tradition, which analyzes them as stative verbs with a zero present-tense morpheme (∅) in place of the overt -(neu)n- (Kim 2002). Rather than adjudicating between these positions, the thesis adopts Haspelmath's (2010) distinction between comparative concepts and descriptive categories and shows that the two camps are in fact answering different questions (Yi 2025). The central diagnostic, the nonpast declarative asymmetry, proves to be confined to a single paradigmatic slot, while other present-tense forms converge. The semantic background is explained by the role of intentionality and animacy (Yu 2013). The absence of comparative morphology extends to verbs and adverbs as well, via the general operator deo. Four problem predicates are examined in detail: the locative copulae, analyzed through honorific forms; the copula, which, based on distributional tests, aligns with the adjectival paradigm (Choe 2005); the suffix -eo ha- (Nam 2024), with its person-based and logophoric asymmetry; and the reinterpretation of the zero morpheme as an endophoric evidential marker of direct experience.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Korean adjectives, zero morpheme, stative verbs, morphosyntax, descriptive categories
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.11 - Undergraduate Thesis
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: [Ž. Kelih]
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 45 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-188877
• UDC: 81=531'06
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293084163
• Publication date in RUL: 30.09.2026

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Oblikoskladenjska kategorizacija pridevnikov v korejščini

Abstract

Diplomsko delo obravnava morfosintaktični status korejskih pridevnikov, katerih obsežno prekrivanje z glagolsko morfologijo je sprožilo dolgotrajno razpravo med korejsko opisno tradicijo, ki jih prepoznava kot samostojno besedno vrsto, in formalno-tipološko tradicijo, ki jih analizira kot glagole stanja z ničtim sedanjiškim morfemom (∅) namesto izraženega - (neu)n- (Kim 2002). Namesto razsojanja med pozicijama delo sprejme Haspelmathovo (2010) razlikovanje med primerjalnimi pojmi in opisnimi kategorijami ter pokaže, da tabora odgovarjata na različni vprašanji (Yi 2025). Osrednja diagnostika, asimetrija v nedovršni povedni obliki, se izkaže za omejeno na eno samo paradigmatsko mesto, medtem ko se druge sedanjiške oblike ujemajo. Semantično ozadje pojasnjuje vloga namernosti in živosti (Yu 2013). Odsotnost primerniške morfologije se razširi tudi na glagole in prislove prek splošnega operatorja deo. Podrobno so obravnavani štirje problematični predikati: lokativni kopuli, analizirani prek honorifikativnih oblik, kopula, ki po distribucijskih testih sodi v pridevniško paradigmo (Choe 2005), sufiks -eo ha- (Nam 2024) z osebno in logoforično asimetrijo, ter ponovna interpretacija ničtega morfema kot endoforičnega evidencialnega markerja neposredne izkušnje.

• Keywords: korejski pridevniki, ničti morfem, glagoli stanja, oblikoskladnja, deskriptivne kategorije