Variation in Form-Meaning Mapping between Korean and English Counterfactuals

Author: Han, Chung-hye¹

Source: Journal of East Asian Linguistics, Volume 15, Number 2, April 2006 , pp. 167-193(27)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

This paper extends and applies to Korean, Iatridou's analysis of past tense morphology in counterfactuals. The paper shows that just as in English, past tense morphology can be used to convey counterfactuality in Korean. While this fact accounts for many similarities between English and Korean counterfactuals, some differences between the two languages are also attested. The variation in form-meaning mapping between English and Korean counterfactuals is accounted for with the proposal that once the past tense is mapped onto the meaning component that conveys counterfactuality, the range of possible temporal interpretations for a counterfactual is literally determined by the LF of the relevant clause minus the past tense morpheme. If this LF has a present (or past) interpretation, the counterfactual will have a present (or past) interpretation. But if this LF is not interpretable, the counterfactual will not be interpretable either, resulting in ungrammaticality.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1007/s10831-005-4914-7

Affiliations: 1: Email: chunghye@sfu.ca

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