2018, Vol., No.57

The Japanese Language Association of Korea 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.0

pISSN : 1229-7275
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jlak

The present paper first observes a recent trend in Japanese-Korean contrastive linguistics to look at issues that are relevant at both sentential and discourse levels from a pragmatic or discourse analytic perspective. As a case study in this trend, this paper examines uses of nominal sentences in Japanese and Korean, and attempts to elucidate factors underlying differences and similarities between the two languages. In particular, it points out common features of previously studied expressions such as genitive expressions, ellipsis in subtitles, and the A+N construction (e.g. kireina hana! ‘lit. beautiful flower!’), and makes the following claims: The primary factor responsible for the difference between Japanese and Korean is whether the speaker and hearer have an explicit agreement in the conversational context. It seems relevant here that in Japanese, things directly observable in the conversational context are typically taken to be known information, while in Korean mere observability is not enough for something to be treated as known information. The second factor that brings about the difference between the two languages concerns how verbal nouns are used. The fact that verbal nouns in Japanese may have verbal functions suggests that the distinction between nouns and verbs is not entirely rigid in Japanese. On the other hand, Korean distinguishes nouns and verbs more sharply, as suggested by the fact that verbal nouns in Korean function only as nouns.

This research aimed at determining the respective use aspect and use intention targeting so-called “-ssu” and “-hamda” , which do not exist in the normative Korean and Japanese respect honoripic systems but are widely used by general people It insisted that it is necessary to establish these termination forms in the independent rating in speech level to hearer system. Examples of the research were analyzed by collecting blog bulletin board messages that can be called quasi-conversational language. Firstly, considering the proportion of “-ssu” and “-hamda” in the bulletin board messages, it was low, 7.3% and 10.6% respectively. However, based on this point, it was determined that the ordinary people strategically utilize these forms intentionally. Also, the function of “-ssu” and “-hamda” could be arranged that they have the meaning of fun and emphasis through non-daily form. Lastly, based on the above analysis, this research claimed that “-ssu” and “-hamda” should be established as an independent division in special Hwagye. To include them in polite expression systems can be said to be too early, however more research on considering the actual use aspect of speech levels to hearer from various groups could develop research on polite expression systems. The researcher hopes this research could be an opportunity to newly establish special Hwagye in the Japanese polite expression system, though insufficient. Also, the researcher expects that this research could be a starting point of discussion to reorganize special Hwagye in the Korean language.

In this paper, in order to grasp the tendencies of the strategy used when Japanese and Korean university students borrow objects from a close friend, we set up nine scenes with different types of objects and positions where objects were placed, and conducted questionnaires. The results were compared and examined and the following 5 points were drawn from the study. (1) Regardless of the type and the position of objects, in both Japan and Korea, the highest percentage of responses is "linguistic strategy before the act", the next is "linguistic one after the act", the third is "non-linguistic one before the act", the fourth is "non-linguistic one after the act". As such, linguistic strategies are mainly used . (2) In both Japan and Korea, the more trivial the object, and the more the object gets close to the owner, the more the strategies before the act, and the less the strategies after the act are used. (3) In both Japan and Korea, the farther the object is from the owner, and the less trivial the object is, the more the strategies before the act, and the less the strategies after the act are used. (4) In Korea, "the type of objects" and "the position of objects" independently affect the strategies, whereas in Japan the influence by "the type of objects" precedes, and "the type of objects" affects the magnitude of the influence of "the position of objects". (5) Regardless of the type and the position of objects, in Japan the percentage that "linguistic strategy before the act" is selected as first place, and in Korea the percentage that "linguistic one after the act" is selected as first place, is significantly higher than that in the other country. Also in Japan the percentage that "non-linguistic one after the act" isn't selected as any strategy is significantly higher than that in Korea. This tendency also gets stronger when trivial objects are near the borrower or between the borrower and the owner.