Oblique case marking on core arguments in Korean

In this paper we present data from Korean in which the core arguments (subject and direct object) of a transitive clause may be suffixed with oblique postpositional markers rather than the usual nominative or accusative case markers. Unlike familiar cases of oblique arguments, such as dative subjects, we argue that the oblique case marking surveyed here does not indicate a particular thematic role, but rather brings out something different: other semantic properties of the argument in one instance, and a special interpretation imparted to the whole clause in the other. We present a description of the data against a background of current theoretical approaches to case marking, and conclude with some consequences for grammatical theory.