Download Multiple-subject Sentences in Korean

Multiple-subject Sentences in Korean
Dick Grune, [email protected]
March 2017
Introduction
Very few languages allow main sentences to have more than one subject, but Korean is one of them.
Sohn1 gives many examples, but even the innocuous2
제가 김치가 좋아요
je-ga gimchi-ga joh-ayo
I-subj kimchi-subj good_is
“I like kimchi”
shows the phenomenon.
Some examples from Sohn (subject endings are -i and -ga):
와이키키가 경치가
좋다
waikhikhi-ga gyeongchi-ga joh-da
Waikiki-subj
scenery-subj
“Waikiki has nice scenery”
뉴역이
범죄가
nyuyeog-i
good_is
많다
peomjoe-ga manh-da
New York-subj crime-subj
much_is
“New York has much crime”
이 집이
i
지붕이
jip-i
위가
구멍이 났다
jibung-i wi-ga
gumeong-i nass-da
this house-subj roof-subj top-subj hole-subj
“The top of the roof of this house has a hole”
appeared_has
Yeon & Brown3 give a few examples, with a slightly different translation:
제가 뱀이
싫어요
je-ga paem-i
silh-eoyo
I-subj snakes-subj be_hateful
“It is I who hates snakes”
유미가 동생이
Yumi-ga
예뻐요
dongsaeng-i
yepp-eoyo
Yumi-subj younger_sister-subj pretty_is
“It is Yumi whose younger sister is pretty”
This unusual phenomenon is puzzling, but neither of the above books provides a sound explanation.
Sohn Ho-Min, “The Korean Language”, p. 290.
Korean text will be presented in four lines: 1. 한글(Hangeul); 2. transcription; 3. word-by-word
translation with endings; and 4. “English translation”. The English translation is approximate; nuances may be lost.
3
Yeon Jaehoon & Lucien Brown, "Korean, A Comprehensive Grammar", p. 97.
1
2
Sohn (p. 291) reports that some linguists claim that a multiple-subject sentence like the above one
derives from
유미의 동생이
예뻐요
Yumi-ui
dongsaeng-i
yepp-eoyo
Yumi-of
younger_sister-subj pretty_is
“Yumi's younger sister is pretty”
but there is no explanation of this derivation. Sohn rejects this “explanation”, claiming instead that
“multiple-subject constructions are viewed as basic” to the language, which of course side-steps the
need for an explanation.
Yeon & Brown do not delve into the problem, and simply state that it is “a complex argument that is
still being debated by Korean linguists” (p. 97).
Adjectives and Relative Clauses
To find a satisfactory explanation we first need to look into adjectives, and into Korean adjectives in
particular. An adjective describes a property of a noun. It can be attached directly to the noun
(“attributively”) or through the verb of a sentence (“predicatively”). Examples, using the adjective
“pretty”, are:
a pretty flower
the flower is pretty
“pretty” is an attribute and the word “pretty” is used attributively
“is pretty” is a predicate, and the word “pretty” is used predicatively
In many languages, for example Dutch, but not English, adjectives can have different forms when
used attributively or predicatively:
een mooie bloem – a pretty flower
de bloem is mooi – the flower is pretty
All adjectives in Korean are verbs, called “descriptive verbs”: for example, the descriptive verb
stem 예쁘- yeppeu- means “pretty”. The stem can be extended into an attribute by the ending eun or -n, and into a predicate by the endings -eoyo, -da, and many others:
예쁜
꽃
yeppeu-n
kkoch
pretty-being flower
“a pretty flower”
꽃이
kkoch-i
used attributively
예쁘다
yeppeu-da
flower-subj pretty_is
“the flower is pretty”
used predicatively
The attributive form is also used in Korean to associate whole sentences with nouns, a task that is
performed by relative clauses in English, as in “the man who chased the rabbit”, which associates
“he chased the rabbit” to “the man”. A simple example in Korean would be to associate the sentence
마당에 있다
madang-e iss-da
garden-in it-is
“it is in the garden”
with the noun 꽃, kkoch, “flower”:
마당에 있는
꽃
madang-e iss-neun kkoch
garden-in being
flower
“the flower that is in the garden” = “the flower in the garden”
In the first example the stem 마당에 있-, madang-e iss-, is extended into a predicate by adding 다, -da; in the second it is extended into an attribute by adding -는, -neun. (This is the only way
to say “the flower in the garden” in Korean. One cannot just say *마당에 꽃, madang-e kkoch,
garden-in flower.)
Multiple-subject Sentences
Multiple-subject sentences can be explained by considering the stems of sentences like 경치가
좋다 (“the scenery is nice”) as descriptive stems (경치가 좋-, “is scenery-nice”), just as descriptive
stems like예쁘- (“is pretty”) are stems of sentences (예쁘다, “it is pretty”). The following table
shows how close the correspondence is.
Example verb
as a descriptive
verb stem
used
attributively
used
predicatively
Adjective = Descriptive verb
Descriptive sentence = Descriptive verb
예쁘다 – to be pretty
경치가 좋다 – to have nice scenery
Stem
예쁘-
--------Stem---------경치가
좋-
yeppeu-
gyeongchi-ga joh-
be pretty
“be pretty”
scenery-subj
be good
“have nice scenery”
Attribute
예쁜
꽃
Noun
------Attribute------경치가
좋은
나라
yeppeu-N
kkoch
gyeongchi-ga joh-EUN
Noun
nara
being-pretty flower
“a pretty flower”
scenery-subj
being-good country
“a country with nice scenery”
---Subject-Predicate
그 꽃이
예쁘다
---Subject--그 나라가
keu kkoch-i
-------Predicate------경치가
좋다
yeppeu-DA keu nara-ga
that flower-subj pretty_is
“that flower is pretty”
gyeongchi-ga joh-DA
that country-subj scenery-subj
“that country has nice scenery”
In tree form:
Main sentence
Main sentence
Descr. stem
그 꽃이
예쁘-다
keu kkoch-i
Descr. stem
그 나라가
yeppeu-DA
that flower-subj pretty_is
“that flower is pretty”
경치가
keu nara-ga
좋-다
gyeongchi-ga joh-DA
that country-subj scenery-subj
“that country has nice scenery”
good_is
which shows the main sentence as a ternary relation: subject – descriptive stem – ending.
good_is
We are now in a position to tackle some of the more puzzling examples above. We start with:
유미가 동생이
Yumi-ga
예쁘다
dongsaeng-i
yeppeu-da
Yumi-subj younger_sister-subj pretty_is
“Yumi has a younger sister who is pretty”
where we have brought back the verb form to -da(formal plain, which is the basic verb level of
Korean). It says that Yumi (subj) is described by the descriptive stem “younger sister(subj) pretty”,
just as “that flower” is described by the descriptive stem “ pretty”. This makes Yumi the subject of
the main sentence, and the younger sister the subject of the descriptive (sub)sentence.
This construction can be repeated as often as needed, which brings us to:
Main sentence
Descr. stem
Descr. stem
Descr. stem
이 집이
i
지붕이
jip-i
위가
구멍이 났-다
jibung-i wi-ga
gumeong-i nass-da
this house-subj roof-subj top-subj hole-subj
“The top of the roof of this house has a hole”
appeared_has
This describes the house by a sentence
which describes the roof by a sentence
which describes the top by a sentence
which says that a hole has appeared.
Additional Evidence
This explanation of multiple-subject sentences finds confirmation in at least two phenomena in the
language. The first is the placement of adjective intensifiers like 아주–very or 제일–most. These
are placed just before the adjective:
유미가 제일 예쁘다
Yumi-ga
jeil
yeppeu-da
Yumi-subj most pretty_is
“Yumi is the prettiest”
With a descriptive sentence we find:
누가 제일 나이가 많아요?
nu-ga
jeil nai-ga
who-subj most age-subj
“Who is the oldest?”
manh-ayo?
much-is?
and assuming that 제일 is again placed before the adjective, this suggests that 나이가 많- nai-ga
manh- acts as an adjective stem, conform our analysis.
The second is the way subject honorifics behave in these constructions. The subject honorific is the
particle -으시-, -eusi-, which appears just after the stem of the conjugated verb in sentences in
which the subject is a respected person. It has no counterpart in English, but is comparable to the
use of “Sie” in German, “U” in Dutch, “Vous” in French, etc. Yeon & Brown (p. 189) give an
example of a multiple-subject sentence with a respected person as a subject (the honorific subject
ending is -께서, -kkeseo):
Main sentence
Descr. stem
할아버지께서
수염이
많으시다 (formal plain)
halabeoji-kkeseo suyeom-i
manh-eusi-da
grandfather-hon.subj whiskers-subj many-hon.-are
“Grandfather has many whiskers”
The authors express their mild surprise that although it is arguably “the whiskers” that is the subject
of “to be many”, the verb still takes the honorific particle. Our analysis has “grandfather” squarely
as the (honorific) subject of the descriptive stem 수염이 많-, suyeom-i manh-, which therefore
gets the honorific particle: 수염이 많-으시다, suyeom-i manh-eusi-da. In short, Grandfather is
(honorably) many-whiskered.
Conclusion
The above analysis explains the multiple-subject sentences in Korean as a direct consequence of the
fact that Korean uses the same syntactic form for adjectives and relative clauses.