Polygrammaticalization of the Korean toy-‘become’ and Its Conceptual Network

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 언어과학회 2020 언어과학연구 Vol.0 No.93

The concept of ‘becoming" or ‘change-of-state" constitutes a conceptual primitive, and its significance is mirrored in the formation of linguistic systems at the levels of lexis and grammar. Korean exhibits a wide array of lexical semantics, e.g., ‘change’, ‘be good’, ‘succeed’, etc. and of grammatical functions, e.g., Passive, Causative, Resultative, Permissive, etc., that developed from the verb toy- ‘become". These lexical and grammatical meanings form an intricate conceptual network through interplay of pragmatic inferences and (inter) subjectification. Drawing upon historical and contemporary corpus data, this paper explicates the emergence of the polysemous structure of toy-, its grammaticalization paths, and the cognitive mechanisms, from cognitive and discourse-strategic perspectives.

객관화와 주관화의 교차현상에 대하여 -한국어의 "같다." "싶다", "보다"를 중심으로-

이성하 ( Seongha Rhee ) 한국외국어대학교 언어연구소 2005 언어와 언어학 Vol.0 No.35

문법화 연구에 있어서 ``주관화``라는 개념은 문법화 과정에 수반되는 의미변화를 기술하는 용어로서, 또는 그 의미변화를 가능하게 하는 기제로서 많은 관심을 받아왔다. 이 ``주관화`` 개념은 문법화를 겪는 어원어의 의미가화자의 내적인 상황이나 주관적인 태도를 기술하는 의미로 변화하는 것을 가리키는 것으로서 문법화 과정에서 일어나는 의미변화의 매우 강력한 경향성으로 간주되어 왔다. 이 논문은 이 ``주관화``와는 변화의 방향이 역방향인 ``객관화``라는 개념을 제시하고 이러한 현상이 자주 나타날 수 있다는 것을 주장하고 있다. 이 논문에서 사용하는 ``객관화``라는 개념은 한 어원어가 문법화를 겪는 과정에서 그 의미가 주관적인 의미로부터 객관적인 의미로, 또는 덜 주관적인 의미로 변화하는 것을 가리키는 것이며, 이와 같은 두 가지 역방향의 의미변화는 매우 복잡하게 얽혀 있다는 것을 한국어의 ``같다``, ``싶다``, ``보다``의 세 어원어가 서법표지로 문법화되는 과정을 통해서 보여 주고 있다. 특히. 이들 문법소들은 최종적인 문법화 산물이 서법표지라는 점에서 본질적으로 의미기능이 주관적인 개념의 죠지이기 때문에 이들 세 가지 문법소의 변화과정은 모두 주관화로 볼 수 있는 분석 충위가 있다는 것을 제시하고 있다. 그러나 또 다른 분석 층위에서는, 세 가지 서로 다른 전략들이 작용하는 것을 알 수 있음을 보여주고 있다. 즉 ``같다``의 경우에는 명제적인 내용을 구체적인 사물로 사상(mapping)시키는 객관화 과정이 있으며, ``보다``의 경우에는 명제적인 내용을 가시성이 있는 대상으로 파악한다는 점에서 객관화 현상이 있으면서도 한편 명제적인 내용을 주관적이고 심리적인 상태로 사상시키는 점에서 주관화 현상이 있다는 것과, 또한 ``싶다``의 경우에는 주관적인 원망(願望)을 표시하는 점에서 주관화 현상이 있음을 알 수 있다. 따라서 이 논문에서는 비록 ``주관화``라는 개념이 문법화 현상에 수반되는 의미변화를 연구함에 있어서 기술적인(descriptive) 용어나 설명적인 용어로서 매우 유용한 개념임에도 불구하고, 문법화 현상에 있어서 의미변화는 매우 복잡한 것이며 따라서 주관화와 객관화 두 가지 현상 모두가 문법형태의 발전 과정에서 작용하는 경우가 있을 뿐 아니라 실제로 이러한 양방향성 변화가 나타나는 경우는 매우 많을 수 있다는 것을 논증하고 있다.

Language Contact and Grammaticalization of Adpositions: A Case of Some Asian Languages

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2023 담화·인지언어학회 학술대회 발표논문집 Vol.2023 No.4

Regularity in Semantic Change Elizabeth C. Traugott & Richard B. Dasher (2002)

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2006 담화·인지언어학회 학술대회 발표논문집 Vol.- No.-

Grammaticalization of Verbs of Desideration

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2001 담화와 인지 Vol.8 No.2

The objective of this paper is to explore the diverse paths and mechanisms of grammaticalization of verbs of desideration from a cross-linguistic perspective. it has been observed that verbs of desideration often grammaticalize into tense-aspect-modality (TAM) markers. In Korean, of three desiderative verbs, siph-shows a long-advanced grammaticalization, typically marking conjecture, supposition, prediction and epistemic modality in addition to basic desideration. It shows sharp contrast with wenha- that does not exhibit any sign of grammaticalization, and with pala-, which can be deemed at best a case of marginal grammaticalization. This paper also attempts to show mechanisms operative in the process of grammaticalization such as metaphor and metonymy. In addition, it shows how variable frames of focus in the conceptual schema gave rise to various TAM markers intricately interacting with human cognition and perception.

A Cognitive Comparative Analysis of Spatial Concepts in English and Korean

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2006 담화와 인지 Vol.13 No.1

This paper analyzes the spatial concepts in English and Korean from a cognitive comparative approach. The two languages show certain commonalities and differences in their use of spatial grams. Among the findings, of particular significance is the fact that the grammaticalization likelihood hierarchy is well observed in the English spatial prepositional system, whereas it is not so in the Korean spatial postpositional system. In addition, in terms of the layering phenomena, English exhibits two different layers of the primary prepositional system and the secondary prepositional system. The layering in Korean involves the putatively older, native Korean postpositional system and the putatively newer, Sino-Korean postpositional system. These two layered systems coexist through functional specialization In English the specialization involves the distinction between abstractness and concreteness, whereas in Korean, though similar distinction is utilized, the two layers show the reverse as compared with English. Finally, the concept of 'markedness' bears particular significance in both languages in terms of the numbers of the members and the token frequencies of the categories created along such variables as dimensions and ground-marking.

What Is It For If It's Before Me?: Subjectification and Grammaticalization of English For and Before

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 한국영미어문학회 2007 영미어문학 Vol.- No.84

  Subjectification has been among those concepts frequently resorted to in grammaticalization scholarship since the concept was first formulated by Traugott (1982) as a semantic change mechanism. English prepositions for and before, both derived from a common Germanic root fora "front", are exemplars par excellence of exhibiting contrastive properties as a result of differential application of subjectification. In modern English, for is primarily used to designate advantageous/beneficial relationship between the figure and the background, whereas before is primarily specialized for the designation of spatial or, more productively, temporal anteriority. In the case of for, the semantic extension pattern can be represented as [frontal location > temporal anteriority > representation > cause/reason > support/benefit > purpose > destination > advantage/disadvantage]. Diverse semantic change mechanisms operate over this long progression of semantic change, often involving attribution of speaker"s stance about the event, i.e. subjectification. Since the emergence of a new sense resulting from conventionalization of pragmatic inferences does not necessarily render the previous senses obsolete, diverse meanings may occur at any synchronic state, thus accounting for the notorious polysemy phenomenon for grammatical forms such as for. As for before, it is largely used to show the "earlier in time" relations or the "in front of" relations between the two referenced entities. However, it also exhibits, albeit weakly as compared with for, a level of subjectified semantic change that may be diagrammatically represented as [frontal location > temporal anteriority > potentiality > superiority > preference].

범언어적으로 본문자 표기 방식의 변화와 한글 전용

이성하(Rhee Seongha) 한글학회 2017 한글 Vol.- No.315

이 글은 범언어적으로 문자의 표기 방식을 고찰해보고 최근 한자 병기 문제와 관련지어 한국적 맥락에서 문자체계의 의미를 살펴본 논문이다. 특히 문자가 갖고 있는 언어적, 개인적, 사회적 기능 등을 살펴보고, 고대로부터 문자의 기원과 발달, 차용과 혼용, 그리고 소멸의 사례들을 보인 후, 이러한 문자의 변화가 가지는 의미를 한국적 맥락에서 조명하고 언어정책의 관점에서 중요성을 찾아보았다. 결론적으로, 한자를 병기하는 것은 언어적, 사회적, 국가적 차원에서 타당하지 않다는 것을 주장한다. 즉, 한자는 한국인의 문자생활에는 도움이 되지 않으며, 사회적으로도 한자의 사용은 정체성 형성에 도움이 되지 않고, 국가적으로도 한국에서 사용되는 한자를 교육하는 것이 동북아 의사소통에 효과적이지 않음을 다양한 범언어적 사례와 언어학적 원리들을 들어 주장한다. This paper surveys the writing systems of the world in order to evaluate some pro-Chinese claims that Chinese characters should be used in elementary school textbooks for Sino-Korean words. As preliminaries, this paper looks into the linguistic, personal, and social functions of writing systems, and shows the development, shift, and disuse of writing systems as attested in history. Based on the exploration of these historical incidents, it refutes the pro-Chinese claims on the ground of linguistic, social, and national aspects of language use. In particular, it argues that the use of Chinese characters would not provide benefits to Korean hangeul, that it would adversely influence the Korean society in terms of identity formation and solidarity among its members, and that it would not contribute to a better communication among the East Asian nations. The argument draws upon historical events and linguistic principles with respect to the cognitive and psychological data processing.

Frame of Focus in Grammaticalization

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2000 담화와 인지 Vol.7 No.2

There has been a large body of literature in the field of grammaticalization that attempts to identify exact nature of semantic change and to translate the findings in terms of gramrnaticalization models. This paper addresses an interesting phenomenon of semantic change that prima facie involves antonyrnization if the meanings of the source and the result are compared. This peculiar type of semantic change in the course of gramrnaticalization poses a problem for current gramrnaticalization models because none of them to date can accommodate such types of semantic changes. This paper attempts to provide an exposition as to the genesis of such semantic changes that can account for such rather bizarre phenomena It is argued here that the process of antonyrnization is a product of the changes of the speaker's viewpoint that shifts between microscopic and telescopic frames of foci on the event schema, in the course of interlocutors' pragmatic enrichment in meaning negotiation.

The Parallel Reduction Hypothesis in Grammaticalization Revisited: A Case of English Prepositions

Seongha Rhee(이성하) 담화·인지언어학회 2003 담화와 인지 Vol.10 No.3

In grammaticalization studies some significant generalizations characterizing grammaticalization processes in various levels of grammar have been proposed. The parallel reduction hypothesis is one of such generalizations. This paper examines the hypothesis with English prepositions to examine if the hypothesis holds. Eighty English prepositions were divided into 5 groups by the differing degrees of use frequency, based on the assumption that more grammaticalized forms are more frequently used. Then the complexity was calculated at various levels such as phonology, morphosyntax, and semantics, and the figures were compared across these groups. A quantificational survey reveals that the group of the highest use frequency exhibits the highest level of reduction in form and of generalization in meaning, whereas the group of the lowest frequency shows the lowest level of reduction, thus supporting the parallel reduction hypothesis as a viable generalization of linguistic change phenomena displayed by English prepositions.