A Study on the Pragmatics of Objective Case Alternation Constructions in Korean

The purpose of this study is to investigate the pragmatics of objective case alternation constructions in Korean. The main pragmatic factor for the alternation in Korean is argued to be the context-based controllability of the subject to the objective case-marked argument. The notion of controllability in this paper does not refer to the direct and physical control from the subject, but to the mental and emotional belief on the controllability of the subject to the concerned argument. The objective case alternation constructions are divided into causative and non-causative constructions in this paper. The causative constructions are further divided into long-form and short-form causative constructions, while non- causative alternation constructions consist of possessor assession constructions and those which involve motion verb, manner verb, ‘giving’ verb, etc.. The causative and non-causative objective case alternation constructions are argued to involve the controllability of the subject, which derives from the notions such as ‘mental forces’, ‘causation’, ‘boundary set-up’, ‘caused possession’, ‘completeness’, and ‘inalienable possession’.