The purpose of this paper is to compare the semantics of perception verbs and their complementations in English and Korean and show the similarities and differences between them. Corpus data are provided with my arguments when they are available. The main claims of this paper are as follows. First, English perception verbs are classified into three groups according to the stative/dynamic distinction, contrary to Korean ones which are divided into two groups. The verb see in English and po-ta in Korean have as a central sense either a category corresponding to EYE+FACULTY, or EYE alone. Second, we have seen that there are three main types of complementation for perception verbs in English, which depend on such complicated semantic factors as verbal classes of complement clauses, completed vs. incompleted action, physical perception vs. mental perception, and the change of states, etc. On the other hand, there are only two types of complementation in Korean, which are based on such factors as physical perception vs. mental perception, co-temporality between main and complement clauses. Third, the meaning extension of po-ta in Korean is argued by Song (2003) to take the direction of perception-judgement-performance-experience. It is claimed that that of English verb see also follow the direction, considering Baker's (1999) list of the senses. Fourth, English freely omits the active zones of the perception verb hear, while Korean tends to obligatorily take the active zones of the perception verb tut-ta. In terms of the linguistic typology of active zones, which groups into English type and Samoan type, the phenomenon of active zones in Korean is argued to belong to the Samoan type.
KCI
DBpia
