Coordination of Mood Phrases in Korean

Abstract

In this paper, I attempt to find the answers to the questions of what a speech act comes from and how a MP is interpreted. To do this, I discuss whether Mood Phrases (= MPs) can be conjoined or disjoined, and why they can or cannot, in matrix and embedded clauses. If a MP is used as a matrix one, it becomes a speech act. If some phenomena are observed only in matrix MPs, they are phenomena of speech acts. If some phenomena are observed in embedded MPs, they are phenomena of MPs. Based on these criteria, I claim that a speech act comes from the utterance of a MP as a separate sentence, not from the MP itself. This is also supported by the fact that there is no conjunction connective that combines two MPs. Based on these observations, I also claim that kuliko ‘and’ and hokun ‘or’ are coordinators of speech acts. Speech acts can be conjoined relatively freely, but they can be disjoined only if a preceding speech act can be re-interpreted as contributing to a larger speech act. And there is only one coordinator -kena ‘or’ that disjoins embedded MPs and there is no conjunction connective of embedded MPs. I explain all the observations based on the claim that the use of a MP presupposes an event or state that involves the meaning of the MP. It is an utterance event when a matrix MP is used and it is an event or state introduced in the context when an embedded MP is used. This allows us to explain that MPs can be disjoined only if the disjunction connective takes wide scope over a predicate that introduces an event or state that involves the MPs, and leads to the meaning of conjunction. Hence no conjunction connective of MPs is necessary.