This paper attempts to provide a unified account for discourse-related subject constraints in Korean within the framework of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995 and subsequent work). First, three different constructions are examined with respect to the subject constraints: Clauses with (ⅰ) the jussive suffixes, (ⅱ) the volitive modal suffix -keyss, and (ⅲ) the subject experiencer predicates. I demonstrate that the subject constraints in the three constructions share the same motivation that semantic/pragmatic properties of the elements require a discourse participant to be manifested as a subject. In order to formalize the interface between syntax and semantics/pragmatics, I propose that a functional projection, a Consciousness Phrase, is located in the left periphery (in the spirit of Rizzi 1997). This projection encodes a set of anaphoric features that mediates the subject and the discourse participant through Agree and binding relation at syntactic computation.
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. A Subject and the Centre of Consciousness
3. Previous Analyses
4. Proposal: Consciousness Phrase and its Anaphoric Features
5. Analysis
6. Perspective Shift in Interrogative Clause
7. Concluding Remarks
References
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