Evidence from an ERP Study : Can the Korean EFL Learners Change the Way to Process the English Topicalized Constructions?

The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to clarify the relations between the suggested structures for the Korean verb seultukhata (to persuade), which are conveniently called ACC1, ACC2 and NOM by Polinsky, Monahan, and Kwon (2007), and (2) to propose a control structure of this verb in the sense of Culicover and Jackendoff (2005) and Hong (2014). Specifically, I argue that ACC1 is derived from ACC2 by movement, and that NOM should rely on ACC2 when identifying the referent of the implicit object in it. In addition, this paper argues against the proposition by Polinsky, Monahan, and Kwon (2007) that ACC1 and ACC2 differ in structure as well as in interpretation, by making use of some intuitional and theory-internal evidence along with evidence from a corpus study of the argument structures of the verb seultukhata. Finally, I suggest a control structure of this verb from a lexical semantic point of view in line with Culicover and Jackendoff (2005) and Hong (2014).