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A study on the structural properties of ‘-deut’(-듯) type proverbs

  • Korean Semantics
  • 2014, 45(), pp.159-184
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Semantics
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

NOH, MYUNGHEE 1

1성균관대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper considered the essential properties of proverbs focussing on ‘-deut’(-듯) type proverbs. These proverbs are deviant from the typical proverbs because they don’t take the quotation form. Typical proverbs have the property of being mentioned in the sentence, but ‘-deut’ type is used as a constituent in the sentence. Furthermore ‘-deut’ type do not make a complete utterance and perform a specific speech act unlike typical proverbs. But they can be transformed into nominalized ‘-gi’(-기) type proverbs and the complementation construction ‘-neun/-eun gyeok’(-는/은 격) type which are typical proverb constructions. In these respects, ‘-deut’ type can be included into the realm of proverbs. Only those which are typical proverbs can have all the proverbial properties. So proverbs can be defined by the concept of family resemblance. The 95 percent of ‘-deut’ proverbs which are listed in the Pyojun Dictionary are Verbal stem+‘deut’ type(ex. 개미 금탑 모으듯) and only 5 percent of them are Verbal past adnominal form+‘deut’ type(ex. 사흘에 피죽 한 그릇도 못 얻어먹은 듯). The former type represents the set of atemporal actions and can’t be replaced with ‘eun/neun deut’ types. And the deletion of case markers is actively exploited to conform the prosodic harmony. The latter depicts the state of completed actions and have a variation with ‘eun/neun deut’ types to some degree. When it comes to the following predicates, the former is realized into Verbal stem+‘deut ha-n-da’(ex. 강태공이 세월 낚듯 한다). In this construction, ‘deut’ represents figurative meanings and ‘ha-n-da’ functions as a pro-verb. The latter adnominal ‘deut’ type is realized into ‘eun deut-ha-da’ types(ex. 사흘에 피죽 한 그릇도 못 얻어먹은 듯하다) where ‘deut ha-da’ is an auxiliary adjective having a meaning of supposition.

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