(1) The particle `-(i)na' should be classified as a member of the class `delimiter'(=determiner=article), together with the particles `-ga, -leul, -do, -neun', which have been divergently described as case markers, topic markers, auxiliary particles, ...
(1) The particle `-(i)na' should be classified as a member of the class `delimiter'(=determiner=article), together with the particles `-ga, -leul, -do, -neun', which have been divergently described as case markers, topic markers, auxiliary particles, etc. The delimiting particles, including `-(i)na' are correlated with the whole syntax of sentences, or modal endings(imperative, exhortative, exlamative etc.) and modal auxiliary verbs. The `raison d'etre' of the particle `-(i)na' should be found in the `discontinuous signifies' which comprise the grammatical network. This paper finally requires the paradigm-shift of viewing the delimiting particles and the sentence in Korean.
(2) There are some possibilities of discerning the person-type of subject, agent, experiencer by using the information extracted/retrieved from verb-ending complex, not from (pro)noun phrase. And empirical/statistical data in a corpus analysis are given to prove our hypothesis. Through this, it is revealed that we can resolve the person (of `zero pronoun') on the basis of grammatical mechanism, rejecting the opinion that there is no person in Korean or that the person in Korean is expressed/activated at the pragmatic level. It is generally accepted that the subject can be easily omitted in Korean, in particular in spoken Korean and that the information with regard to person can be gained from extralinguistic knowledge, or context, utterance situation. But our research based on the authentic/real Korean data shows that the person is distinguishable at the morpho-syntactic level and that the problem of the so-called `zero pronoun' can be resolved through the grammatical mechanism. In sum, we suggest that a (pro)noun-centric or lexical-based approach to the analysis of person be replaced by a ending-centric or grammatical-based approach.