Japanese/Korean Linguistics

This study offers a typological analysis of the Korean case particles poko and tele, traditionally treated as dative markers. Drawing on corpus data and construction grammar, it identifies four major constructions where these particles appear: speech quotation, naming, evaluative, and causative. Rather than marking indirect objects or recipients like typical datives (eykey, hanthey), poko and tele function primarily as addressee or goal markers. The study introduces the 'on-the-spot' constraint, requiring that the referent be directly involved in the speech context. Crosslinguistic evidence supports the grammaticalization paths SEE > ALLATIVE (for poko) and ACCOMPANY > ALLATIVE (for tele), aligning with well-attested typological trajectories. By mapping their semantic and syntactic behaviors, the paper argues for reclassifying poko and tele as specialized allative markers with pragmatic constraints. The findings refine our understanding of Korean case marking and contribute to broader typological models of grammaticalization across languages.