2015, Vol., No.65

Journal of Japanese Culture 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.36

pISSN : 1226-3605 / eISSN : 2733-8908
https://journal.kci.go.kr/JJC

There has been increasing studies on the different usage of ‘omou’and ‘saeng gakhada’in recent years. Prior research did not include a theoretical concept of ‘omou’ and ‘saenggakhada’and therefore was unable to provide a scientific expl anation in the comparative analysis of these two words. Drawing on the notion of hedge and politeness theory, this paper focuses on ‘omou’ and ‘saenggakhada’ used as assertives for politeness strategy. Prior research has shown that ‘omou’and ‘saenggakhada’ co-occurs with a se ntence which has illocutionary force as assertives. However, applying the “wei ghtiness (W) of a face-threatening act (FTAx)” from theory of politeness by Brown & Levinson (1978/1987) as a theoretical framework for the analysis, this paper finds that ‘omou’ is used as hedge in a sentence which has illocut ionary force as assertives, regardless of the degree of distance (D) and extent of risk (R). In contrast, ‘saenggakhada’ is constrained when used as hedge in a sentence which has illocutionary force as assertives in following incidences : a) where risk (R) is high and distance (D) is far, b) where risk (R) is low an d distance (D) is far in the value of relationship. According to Itani (1996), “cultural aspects play an important role since the ‘appropriate’ amount of social hedging varies from culture to culture.” Using ‘o mou’ and ‘saenggakhada’ as hedge supports this observation, and it can be wit nessed in the context of both languages - Japanese and Korean.

This research performed subclassification targeting 'verb combination of the type which has medium morpheme' of which consequent verb (V2) has '行く', then indicated the common ground and difference between Japanese and Korean through the comparison with verb combination of the same type which has 'go' in V2 within the result. The result can be briefly summarized as follows. 1)～3) are common grounds, 4)～7) are differences. 1) The relevant verb combination are distributed sequentially from the most syntactic example to the most morphological example. 2) The examples such as '増えていく、ssah-yeo gada’ can be considered as a kind of the compound verb. 3) The examples such as '走って行く、dallyeo gada’ hold more characteristics of the phrases (句) which treat with two words. 4) While '連れて行く’ is available for adnominal modification using V1, however 'delyeogada’ is not available. 5) In case of 'ボーナスが飛んで行った' and 'boneoseuga nal-agassda' which accompanies specialization of meaning, the former is available for adnominal modification using V1, while the latter is not available. 6) '好んで’ of '好んで行く' has secured the position as the adverb, while 'jeulgyeo' of 'jeulgyeogada' still has not secured the position as the adverb. 7) Verb combination where V2 has '行く' mostly has the examples which have only literal meaning, while the verb combination where V2 has 'gada' has lots of examples which express metaphorical meaning besides literal meaning.

The River Ki is the utmost masterpiece of Sawako Ariyoshi that describes three generations of Japanese women who lived through different times. The amount of effort and passion she poured into the novel is apparent, and its plot wholly represents the aspects of women who endured such extreme era. Ariyoshi captured the dimensions of people being swayed by the torrent of the era in detail. Like the river Ki which seems to flow peacefully and yet hides swirling current underneath the seemingly gentle stream, the characters fully unravel the changes in the women’s sense of maternity that took place through the dynamic times. As studying The River Ki, it becomes apparent that Ariyoshi wrote this novel based on the sense of ‘maternity’ which she understood as the root of the womankind. In the novel, readers can witness how consistently antagonistic, drastically different senses of maternity of Hana and Humio are finally sublimated into one. Hidden underneath the changes lies the element of ‘loss’ -the absence of husband and the death of second son. Their opposing sense of maternity is united by Hanako-Hana’s granddaughter-who built the bridges of understanding between the two. Contrary to the first half where the mother-daughter conflict arose, as the novel runs to its latter half, the complete mutual communication between the three generations of women is finally achieved. Although the beginnings were different, the sense of maternity accomplished harmony transcending the lengthy time that began from the era of the mother, Hana, to her daughter Humio and ended in the generation of Hana’s granddaughter Hanako. Then it is sublimated into the ‘complete sense of maternity’ that Ariyoshi believes is the ultimate virtue. It is the core of description of maternity by Ariyoshi who realized early that complete portrayal of the sense of maternity can only be achieved by representing the voices of both the mother and the daughter