This study aims, from a contrastive linguistic perspective and in a synchronic framework, to examine how concessive constructions are realized in Korean and Chinese at the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels. Previous research on Korean–Chines...
This study aims, from a contrastive linguistic perspective and in a synchronic framework, to examine how concessive constructions are realized in Korean and Chinese at the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels. Previous research on Korean–Chinese concessive constructions has mainly focused on the correspondence between formal structures and semantic functions. Building on these findings, the present study seeks to investigate the meanings and functions of concessive constructions, their syntactic constraints, and the ways in which speakers’ value judgments are manifested in sentence formation and discourse contexts.
Accordingly, this study takes as its objects of investigation Korean concessive constructions formed with -ado, -deorado, and -l jirado, and the Chinese constructions jishi/jiusuan/napa … ye …. Taking the establishment of semantic categories of concessive constructions as its point of departure, the study conducts a step-by-step analysis of their syntactic characteristics and pragmatic realizations. This analysis goes beyond a simple examination of formal correspondences and, through contrastive analysis, aims to elucidate the essential differences manifested in concessive constructions in the two languages.
To conduct a contrastive study of Korean and Chinese concessive constructions, a theoretical framework was first established. The study begins by providing a definition of concessive constructions and argues that they constitute an independent grammatical category with distinctive properties, clearly differentiated from adversative and conditional constructions. Specifically, it demonstrates that concessive constructions are a unique sentence type in which both conditional and adversative relations operate simultaneously within a single sentential structure.
Subsequently, a contrastive analysis is carried out of the Korean concessive connectives -ado, -deorado, and -l jirado, and the Chinese concessive connectives jishi/jiusuan/napa … ye …, focusing on their morphological composition and semantic functions. The results reveal that, due to differences in morphological structure, Chinese tends to express concessive markers in sentence-initial position, which makes the speaker’s attitudinal involvement more explicit and salient than in Korean.
A subordinate complex sentence is a sentence type composed of two or more clauses. Therefore, it is necessary to examine what grammatical properties each clause exhibits, how the clauses are interrelated, and what kinds of grammatical constraints are at work. This study conducts a contrastive analysis of the syntactic characteristics of Korean and Chinese concessive constructions from the perspectives of sentence structure, subject–predicate constraints, and tense-combination restrictions.
In Korean concessive constructions, the syntactic relationship between the preceding and following clauses is expressed primarily through connective endings, which makes this relationship clearly visible within the syntax. As a result, it is confirmed that there are certain constraints on tense combinations. By contrast, Chinese concessive constructions form the logical framework of concession through correlative expressions. Consequently, the interpretation of subject position and ellipsis, as well as the use of modal auxiliary verbs in predicates and the interpretation of aspect markers, tends to depend largely on discourse context and situational factors rather than on internal syntactic constraints.
In light of the practical characteristic that concessive constructions strongly convey a speaker’s claims, attitudes, and stances in everyday discourse contexts, this study examines Korean and Chinese concessive constructions with a focus on syntactic features motivated by value judgments. In Korean, concessive constructions display the pragmatic pattern of “proposition + concessive marker + speaker’s judgment.” As a result, Korean actively employs elements such as modal adverbs and a variety of sentence-final mood endings, allowing the speaker’s emotional response to the proposition in the preceding clause to be linked relatively directly.
By contrast, Chinese concessive constructions exhibit the pattern “conjunction + proposition, adverb + speaker’s judgment.” Accordingly, in Chinese, the speaker’s attitude tends to be expressed through intonation, word order, and the overall logical flow of the sentence, resulting in expressions that are closer to objective description.
This study aims to systematically elucidate the similarities and differences of concessive constructions in Korean and Chinese through a contrastive analysis of their semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic characteristics. Such discussion is expected to provide meaningful insights into a more precise understanding of the semantic distinctions and usage patterns of concessive constructions, and furthermore, to serve as foundational material for contrastive Korean–Chinese grammar research as well as for the teaching of concessive constructions in foreign language education contexts.