Abstract The Korean temporal system exhibits a striking discrepancy between the tense-aspect markings used in declarative sentences and those found in noun-modifying (adnominal) clauses. While contemporary declarative sentences primarily utilize -ess - for the past and -nun-/-n- for the present, modifying clauses maintain a system where a “zero” form marks the past and -nu- marks the present. This paper argues that these discrepancies are the result of uneven historical grammaticalization. By examining 15th-century Middle Korean, this study demonstrates that noun-modifying clauses are conservative structures that preserve an older temporal system, whereas declarative sentences have undergone radical reorganization due to the emergence of the past tense marker -ess - originating from the resultative marker - e is -.
Jaehoon Yeon (Fri,) studied this question.