LINGUIST List 19.57
Tue Jan 08 2008
Diss: Pragmatics: Chun: 'A Study of Korean Conjunctive Verbal Suffi...'
Editor for this issue: Luiza Newlin Lukowicz
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1. Chong-Hoon
Chun,
A Study of Korean Conjunctive Verbal Suffixes: Towards a theory of morphopragmatics
Message 1: A Study of Korean Conjunctive Verbal Suffixes: Towards a theory of morphopragmatics
Date: 04-Jan-2008
From: Chong-Hoon Chun <chonghoon2001yahoo.com>
Subject: A Study of Korean Conjunctive Verbal Suffixes: Towards a theory of morphopragmatics
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Institution: University of New South Wales
Program: Korean Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2007
Author: Chong-Hoon Chun
Dissertation Title: A Study of Korean Conjunctive Verbal Suffixes: Towards a theory of morphopragmatics
Linguistic Field(s):
Pragmatics
Subject Language(s): Korean (kor)
Dissertation Director:
Mengistu Amberber
Gi-Hyun Shin
Dissertation Abstract:
The main aim of this thesis is to gain a deep understanding of the meaningsof Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes from a pragmatic viewpoint, usingreal, not constructed data. In order to attain the purpose, this thesisconducts an in-depth analysis of the nature of the meanings, and the use,of six Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes: -ko, -nuntey, -nikka, -se,-ciman, and -to. The term the use refers to the truth-functionality ofsuffixes, i.e., whether they conjoin or disjoin the two propositions, whichare recovered from two segments, truth-functionally. The data are obtainedfrom 360 minutes of audio-taped Korean natural conversations. It adopts asits reasoning tool four major pragmatic theories - Gricean theory,neo-Gricean theory, Relevance Theory, and Default Semantics. However, itdoes not use the data to compare the four theories. The thesis emphasiseshow to elucidate the meanings of Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes thatmodern pragmatic theories cannot neatly explain.
In Chapter 1 previous approaches on the six suffixes are analysed. It ispointed out that while these studies correctly equate the meanings of agiven suffix with propositional relations that obtain between the twosegments (linked by the suffix), they fail to see the importance of the useof the suffix. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the four pragmatictheories. The focus is on strengths and weaknesses of the four theories. InChapter 3, we introduce propositional relations and the notions of encodingand inferred. What is meant by conjoining and disjoiningtruth-conditionally is also explained. Chapter 4 specifies the data. InChapter 5, propositional relations between two propositions which arerecovered from two conjoined segments are characterised. Chapter 6 appliesthe scope test to meanings of the six suffixes and distinguishes encodedand inferred meanings. It discusses encoded meanings of the six suffixes,which conjoin the two propositions truth-functionally, and discussesinferred meanings of only four of the six suffixes, which disjoin the twopropositions truth-functionally. In Chapter 7, we discuss the nature of themeanings of the six suffixes from two theoretical angles, Relevance Theoryand Default Semantics, and in particular we argue against a unitaryprocedure hypothesis. Chapter 8 concludes the thesis and also includessuggestions for future studies.
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