On the Thetic Expressions in Korean

On the Thetic Expressions in Korean

  In this squib, I argue that thetic-categorial distinction is morphologically made in Korean and that the verbal morpheme -iya, among many others, is exactly the marker for expressing the focal function of the whole sentence. Another sentence ending -(i)ta can be recognized as a thetic marker in Korean. There are some differences between these two forms. E.g., the former is felicitously used when the speaker understands that there is at least one listener, while the latter can be used without the knowledge of the presence of the listener. To the best of my knowledge, thetic-categorical distinction in Korean has not been paid much attention to, though hinted at in the literature. So I first introduce the notion of thetic judgment and thetic-categorical distinction. Then I apply this notion to Korean and point out that the data that I will examine do show the distinction. That is, thetic vs. categorial distinction is clearly syntactically encoded in Korean. Although there may be many morphological markers for thetic judgment, I will confine myself to the discussion of two prominent cases, namely, -iya and -ita in this squib.