Earticle

The terms ‘theme’ and ‘topic’ in information structure have been used without conceptual distinction. So there was conceptual confusion in many discussions. This paper suggests that it is necessary to analyze how the topic-comment structure introduced by Lambrecht(1994) is related to the theme-rheme structure discussed in Halliday(1967) in Korean sentences. Based on the fact that the most important property of the theme is sentence-initial and that of the topic is aboutness, it is pointed out that the sentence-initial constituent of a sentence is the theme and the topic is an active element about which new information is added to the listener. A preposed object with clitic -(n)un in the sentence-initial is analysed as not a topic but a contrastive focus in Korean. And the sentence-initial that represents the possessor and possession marked with -(n)un is not only a topic as a whole but also its possessor could be a topic.

This paper critically reviews some well-visited issues concerning relativization. After a relative clause (RC) is defined, its types and forming strategies are described. This is followed by an investigation of the association between the grammatical position of a noun phrase (NP) and its relativizability, which is referred to as the Accessibility Hierarchy (AH) in Keenan and Comrie (1977). After showing not every language allows all grammatical positions to be relativized, this study explores how restrictions in RC formation can be dealt with in languages. Lastly, the article points out that an RC may not be used if it sounds unnatural, even when the restrictions can be lifted. This leads to the conclusion that a language may abandon an RC and adopt another construction to represent the meaning/function of an RC.

This paper is a contrastive study on SHARP adjectives in Korean and Chinese from the perspective of lexical typology. The research method follows the approach of Moscow Lexical typology, and the analysis data are collected from dictionary description, corpus use, and consultation result according to native speakers. The research results are as follows. In terms of basic meaning, similar lexical strategies were found in the two languages. In terms of derivative meaning, Chinese is distinguished from Korean in that derivation meaning related to SHARP is divided into several independent words. However, SHARP lexical in Korean cover a wider semantic range than in Chinese.

Arabic's grammatical morphemes /u-i/ and suffixes /ta/ and /n/ corresponding to Korean passive markers '-i/hi/ri/gi-' are used in various ways to express Arabic verbs. These function words are more abstract and meaningful than content words, so they are used in many ways(Haspelmath, 2003:1). The passive voice is a type of voice. Voice is a system in which the speaker recognizes the event and expresses it in a syntactic structure corresponding to the participant's participation in that event. Cognition reflects the socio-cultural environment based on perception and physical experience(Langacker, 2008:98-28). Since experience determines the category of the conceptual system and each culture has a different conceptual system, the peoples' viewpoint towards the situation differ within different societies and cultures(Lakoff & Johnson, 1980:147-155). That is, when viewing an event, a specific way of express oneself through language can be constructed according to the speaker's choice(Langacker, 2008:55). Speakers can express this voice by referring by objects, events, qualities, and relationships in different ways respective to their linguistic background(Jarvis, 2011:2). For example, the Korean affix '-i/hi/ri/gi-' is used identically to describe a spontaneous event, whereas Arabic clearly distinguishes it from the passive by adding the suffix /n/. Therefore, in order to identify and confirm the influence of Cross-Linguistic Influence as an important factor in the second language acquisition, an explanation of how languages interact in the mind is required(Jarvis & Pavelenko, 2008:111; Jarvis, 2015:1-2). It is possible to explain and reveal the multifunctional types of vowels /u-i/, suffixes /ta/, and /n/ that represent Arabic verbs corresponding to the Korean suffix '-i/hi/ri/gi-' through a semantic map(Haspelmath, 2003:1-5).

Korean is a language in which various modal expressions are used to indicate the possibility of realization of a proposition, and Spanish is a language in which one type of mood is used to express the same concept. Korean modal expressions and Spanish mood correspond to each other in that they represent the attitude or judgment of the speaker. It is confirmed not only theoretically, but also by a contrast analysis using discourse text. The contrast between Korean modal expressions and Spanish mood reveals characteristics of Korean modality, and it suggests that Spanish-speaking learners can use the difference as a reference when learning Korean modal expressions(107 words).