Two Types of States in Korean: Experimental L1 Evidence
Résumé
This paper establishes that there are two classes of states in Korean: pure states vs. so-called inchoative states. We argue that pure states (e.g. celmta ‘young’, pikonhata ‘tired’) describe a homogeneous state without an inherent transition, while inchoative states (e.g. nulkta ‘old’, cichita ‘tired’) describe a state with an inherent transition into that state. Since these two classes of states have different inherent aspectual properties, when combined with the perfect marker '-ess', they yield different temporal readings. That is, with pure states, '-ess' yields an anterior reading, while with inchoative states, it yields a simultaneous reading with respect to the utterance time. This paper further discusses whether Korean children aged from four to six can assign different temporal readings of '-ess' to pure states and inchoative states.