Negation and the Placement of Verb in Korean

Abstract

The paper examines the much-studied, but still debatable phenomenon of verb placement in Korean clausal structure. I will bring forward negative response to the previous works made by j -y. Yoon (1990), Y- J. lung (1992) and Whitman 0990, 94), who maintain that verbs in Korean raise to higher Infl and Camp positions. I will then argue that neither main verbs nor auxiliary verbs raise in Korean, but that they stay in situ in their base-generated position. My claim is mainly based on scope phenomena in negative sentences. It is suggested that scope interpretations which follow from interaction between negation and a quantificational element receive a principled account in terms of their c-command relation, which in turn renders compelling evidence for verb position at overt syntax in the investigated language.