Syntax·Semantics

Syntax: Heejeong Ko

• My research area includes theoretical and experimental syntax, psycholinguistics, and language acquisition. As a theoretical linguist, I have pursued the question of how various principles at the syntax proper interact with interface systems to yield particular linear orderings and morphological patterns. Currently, I am working on the syntax and semantics of scrambling, right-dislocation, secondary predicates and small clauses in head-final languages. In the field of psycholinguistics, my most recent project examines how scrambling interacts with island constraints in the grammar and processing. I have also been interested in how the Universal Grammar constrains the interlanguage of language learners. My on-going research projects include an experiment on the second language acquisition of resultatives constructions in Korean.

Semantics: Seungho Nam

• • Lexicon-syntax interface: Seungho NamWe focus on the lexicon-syntax interface, linking rules in particular, which call for a lexicalist hypothesis, and aim to characterize the semantic aspects of argument realization patterns – particularly those of diverse locative arguments.
  • Evidentials – on their syntactic/semantic typologyThe project deals with different forms/meanings of evidentials in natural language, from grammatical morphemes through (nominalized) clausal types. Currently we are looking for a unified theory of the concept of “evidence” on the one hand, and carrying out comparative work between Korean and Japanese evidentials on the other hand.