Bound Noun kes in Korean, revisited

This paper discusses the possibility that a Korean Bound Noun kes merges outside a nominal projection. Kim (2011, 2016) argues that the bound noun kes merges in a lexical N position and subsequently moves to a functional small n position based on the grammaticalization model proposed in Roberts and Roussou (2003) and van Gelderen (2004). Kim (2011, 2016) basically assumes that the bound noun kes is a nominal projection. However, we find additional data that the bound noun kes functions differently from a noun category. It can express epistemic modal meanings such as ‘regret/repentance’ and ‘speculation/conjecture’ (Chen 2013, Lee 2015, inter alia). Specifically, the bound noun kes with the ‘speculation/conjecture’ meaning is related to a ModP projection due to grammaticalization. I further assume that the bound noun kes is diachronically grammaticalized/reanlysed from ModP to CP. Thus, the bound noun kes can merge three different points with a clausal structure in contemporary Korean, which implies that the bound noun kes is highly grammaticalized compared to other bound nouns in Korean.