The pragmatic understanding of subject expression in spoken Korean
Interpersonal effects of the alternation among reference forms for the expressed subject
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.18812Keywords:
subject, subject expression, expressed subject, alternation, spoken koreanAbstract
Whereas there are a number of studies that address subject omission in Korean as a pro-drop language, expressed subjects have been less explored. I argue that the reasons for expressed subjects to remain un-omitted are found in their pragmatic effects rather than elsewhere. This study particularly investigates the pragmatic effects of the alternation among reference forms for the expressed subject in spoken Korean and uses three different spoken corpora to identify specific examples of the relevant effects. I believe that this study makes a significant contribution to the literature because it shows that shifts among different reference forms play a crucial role in conveying specific pragmatic effects. In particular, I have categorised the pragmatic effects of expressed subjects into two categories, (im)politeness and authority, and intimacy and estrangement, by the characteristics of interpersonal behaviours.
References
Agha, A. (1998). Stereotypes and registers of honorific language. Language in Society, 27(2), 151–193. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500019849
Benveniste, E. (1966). Problems in general linguistics (M. E. Meek, Trans.). Miami: University of Miami Press.
Brown, L. (2011). Korean honorifics and politeness in second language learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.206
Brown, L. (2015). Honorifics and politeness. In L. Brown & J. Yeon (Eds.), The handbook of Korean linguistics (pp. 303–319). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118371008.ch17
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Brown, R., & Gilman, A. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in language (pp. 253–276). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Burgers, C., van Mulken, M., & Schellens, P. J. (2011). Finding irony: An introduction of the Verbal Irony Procedure (VIP). Metaphor and Symbol, 26(3), 186–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2011.583194
Chang, S.-C. (1985). Hwayonglonyenkwu (Research in pragmatics). Seoul: Thapchwulphansa.
Chen, X., & Lee, J. (2021). The relationship between stereotypical meaning and contextual meaning of Korean honorifics, Journal of Pragmatics, 171, 118–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.10.011
Davidson, B. (1996). ‘Pragmatic weight’ and Spanish subject pronouns: The pragmatic and discourse uses of ‘tú’ and ‘yo’ in spoken Madrid Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics, 26(4), 543–565. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(95)00063-1
Ewing, M. (2014). Motivations for first and second person subject expression and ellipsis in Javanese conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 63, 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.09.023
Fraser, B. (1990). Perspectives on politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 14(2), 219–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90081-N
Gu, Y. (1990). Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14(2), 237–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90082-O
Gilmore, A. (2007). Authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning. Language Teaching, 40(2), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444807004144
Hijirida, K., & Sohn, H. (1983). Commonality and relativity in address-reference term usages. Language Research, 19(2), 139–168.
Hijirida, K., & Sohn, H. (1986). Cross-cultural patterns of honorifics and sociolinguistic sensitivity to honorific variables: Evidence from English, Japanese, and Korean. Paper in Linguistics, 19(3), 365–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818609389264
Homes, J. (2008). An introduction to sociolinguistics (3rd ed.). London: Pearson Education.
Hong, J.-S. (2014). Kwuewa mwunelul awulunun sayongca cwungsimuy hankwuke mwunpep (User-centered Korean grammar encompassing the spoken and written language). Enehakyenkwu (Linguistics Study), 42(1), 7–35. https://doi.org/10.15822/skllr.2014.42.1.7
Huang, C. T. J. (1984). On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry, 15(4), 531–574.
Hwang, J. (1990). ‘Deference’ versus ‘politeness’ in Korean speech. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 82, 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1990.82.41
Im, H.-P. (1985). Kwukeuy ‘thongsacekin’ kongpemcwuey tayhaye (On ‘syntactic’ empty categories in Korean). Ehakyenkwu, 21(3), 331–384.
Jung, Y. (2007). Cwue saynglyakey tayhan soko (A note on subject ellipsis). Journal of Language Sciences, 14(2), 101–120.
Kim, H. (1999). Hankwuke tayhwasangeyseuy hwacawa chengcaey tayhan ciching phyohyen (Referring expressions for speaker and hearer in Korean conversation). Discourse and Cognition, 6(1), 73–100.
Kim, M., & Strauss, S. (2018). Emergent multiplicities of self- and other-construction in Korean workplace-based television dramas. Journal of Pragmatics, 137, 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.08.021
Kim, W.-S. (1996). Supheyineuy cwue saynglyak: Hankwuke cwue saynglyak: kwauy tayco pwunsekcek kwancemeyse (Subject ellipsis in Spanish: Comparative study with Korean). Icwungenehakhoyci, 13, 267–287.
Kuo, S.-H. (2003). Involvement vs detachment: Gender differences in the use of personal pronouns in televised sports in Taiwan. Discourse Studies, 5(4), 479–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614456030054002
Kwon, N., & Sturt, P. (2013). Null pronominal (pro) resolution in Korean, a discourse-oriented language. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(3), 377–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2011.645314
Lee, D.-Y., & Yonezawa, Y. (2008). The role of the overt expression of first and second person subject in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics, 40(4), 733–767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.06.004
Lee, H. (1987). On empty categories in Korean. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 12(2), 261–294.
Lee, H. (1993). Theories of the null subject parameter and Korean. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 18(2), 331–361.
Lee, J. (1999). Kwuke kyengepepuy cenlyakcek yongpepey tayhaye (On the strategic usage of Korean honorifics). Language Research, 35(1), 91–121.
Lee, J. (2020). Review of sociolinguistic studies on the terms of address in Korea. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 28(3), 279–309. https://doi.org/10.14353/sjk.2020.28.3.09
Lee, N. (2014). A reconsideration of the omission of first and second person subjects in modern spoken Korean: Focusing on the pragmatic meaning of the overt subject expression. Discourse and Cognition, 21(3), 145–163. https://doi.org/10.15718/discog.2014.21.3.145
Lee, P. (1987). Hyentaykwukeuy 1, 2inching phyohyeney tayhaye (On the first- and second-person references in modern Korean). Kwanakemwunyenkwu, 12, 209–229.
Lee, S. (2015). Sothonguy hwayonglon (Pragmatics of communication). Seoul: Hankwuk Munhwasa.
Lee, W. (1989). Referential choice in Korean discourse: Cognitive and social perspective (PhD thesis). University of Southern California.
Levinson, S. C. (1987). Pragmatics and the grammar of anaphora: A partial pragmatic reduction of Binding and Control phenomena. Journal of Linguistics, 23(2), 379–434. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700011324
Mao, L. (1994). Beyond politeness theory: ‘Face’ revisited and renewed. Journal of Pragmatics, 21(5), 451–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)90025-6
Na, C. (1988). Wulimaluy thukcingey kwanhan han kochal (A study of the characteristics of Korean language). Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology, 4, 36–65.
Nariyama, S. (2004). Subject ellipsis in English. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(2), 237–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(03)00099-7
Oh, S. (2007). Overt reference to speaker and recipient in Korean. Discourse Studies, 9(4), 462–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445607079163
Oh, S. (2010). Invoking categories through co-present person reference: The case of Korean conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(5), 1219–1242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.09.019
Ono, T., & Thompson, S. A. (2003). Japanese (w)atashi/ore/boku ‘I’: They’re not just pronouns. Cognitive Linguistics, 14(4), 321–347. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2003.013
Park, J. (1997). Hankwuke hochinge cheykyey (Address terms in Korean). Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 5(2), 507–527.
Park, M.-K. (2012). Structurally ambiguous empty nominal pro-forms in Korean. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 37(4), 825–843. https://doi.org/10.18855/lisoko.2012.37.4.003
Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Some practices for referring to persons in talk-in-interaction: A partial sketch of a systematics. In B. A. Fox (Ed.), Studies in anaphora (pp. 437–485). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.33.14sch
Sohn, H. (1981) Power and solidarity in the Korean language. Paper in Linguistics, 14(3), 431–452, https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818109370546
Sohn, H. (1999). The Korean language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Son, C. (2010). Hyentaykwuke hochingeuy yuhyengkwa thuksengey tayhan yenkwu. (A study of the types and characteristics on modern Korean terms of address). Korean Semantics, 33, 95–129.
Stivers, T., Enfield, N. J., & Levinson, C. S. (2007). Person references in interaction. In N. J. Enfield & T. Stivers (Eds.), Person references in interaction: linguistic, cultural, and social perspectives (pp. 1–20). New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486746.002
Voyer, D., & Vu, J. P. (2016). Using sarcasm to compliment: Context, intonation, and the perception of statements with a negative literal meaning. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 45(3), 615–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-015-9363-5
Wang, H., Kim, H., Park, J., Kim, S., Chae, S., Kim, H., & Lee, J. (2005). Hankwuk sahoywa hochinge (Korean society and terms of address). Seoul: Yeklak.
Watts, R. J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615184
Watts, R. J., Ide, S., & Ehlich, K. (2005). Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory, and practice (2nd ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199819
Wierzbicka, A. (1991). Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. New York: Mouton De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112329764
Yang, D.-W. (1979). Zero anaphora in Korean. Ene, 4(2), 19–53.
Yang, D.-W. (1986). Hankwuke tayyongsalon (A theory of anaphora in Korean). Journal of Korean Linguistics, 15, 41–162.
Yeon, J., & Brown, L. (2019). Korean: A comprehensive grammar (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315160351
