A Description of Korean Converbs and their Northeast Asian context

Abstract

This paper is a study of Korean converbs in relation to the neighboring languages of Northeast Asia. It is based on the descriptive and theoretical advances made in modern linguistics and provides an extensive analysis of the key issues regarding converbs in Korean as well as ten other neighboring languages. The thesis consists of five sections including an introduction and conclusion. The introduction consists of a background of the converb and its use in typological settings. Chapter 1 is subdivided into three parts, the first of which describes exactly what forms can be considered converbs in Korean and relates them to their traditional description in Korean grammar. This is followed by a description of Korean converbs categorized into those containing or lacking temporal values. Chapter 1 concludes with a short section regarding the origins and evolutionary paths of converbs. Chapter 2 is a comparison of the Korea data above with converbs in neighboring languages. These languages can be roughly grouped into two sets, the Transeurasian languages and the Protoasiatic languages, neither a language family in the traditional sense. Chapter 3 consists of a discussion on several trends within the converbal systems on Northeast Asian languages. The paper ends with a short conclusion. The Korean data is not atypical for the region. While it is true that Korean has a larger than average number of converbs, this is not unique to Korean for Nivkh contains nearly the same number. Koreans lack of different-subject converbs and the paucity of posterior converbs is the overall trend for the region. It is also common for a language to have one highly contextual converb with a wide variety of possible interpretations.