This study is to analyze the English verb ‘open’ and its Korean counterpart ‘yeolda’ in the framework of Lexical Typology (François 2008). It presents the semantic network of OPEN based on ontological properties of each sense and empirical observations and shows the semantic map of the two verbs: Korean colexifies only the objects (or senses) of the verb which have an inherent inside space and a repeatedly usable door-like device while English colexifies all the senses discussed here, including the senses Korean colexifies. This study also suggests that regarding the objects of transitive verbs rather than abstract characteristics of verbs themselves as senses can be more effective in the descriptions of transitive verbs, and that two distinct paths in the semantic map can account for why a certain object (or sense) can be colexified in a different way.

• 김은일(부경대학교)