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The Study on the Functions of the Aspectual Marker ‘-ko iss-’ and ‘-a iss-’ in󰡒The Vegetarian󰡓Written by HanKang and Translated by D. Smith

  • Korean Semantics
  • 2018, 61(), pp.105-132
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Semantics
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Published : September 30, 2018

Kim, Cheon-Hak 1 안혜정 2

1서울시립대학교
2Nanyang Technological University

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to examine how the Korean aspectual markers ‘-ko iss-’ and ‘-e iss-’ in “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang are translated into English by D. Smith. First of all, the Korean verb ‘alta’ is naturally used in a progressive form combined with ‘-ko iss-’, while the equivalent English verb ‘know’ cannot be used in a progressive form. Because of these differences, when the Korean verb ‘alta’ is expressed in the progressive form, several English verbs such as ‘be aware’, ‘be convinced’, ‘recognize’, ‘grasp’ and ‘know’ are used and the progressive meaning is marked with tenses such as the past, present perfect and continuous tenses. Secondly, while the ‘-ko iss-’ can indicate both the progressive and stative meanings in Korean, in Smith’s text, most of the ‘-ko iss-’ verbs are reduced and used only in the progressive form whether they indicate states or progressive meanings. Thirdly, most of the results marking expressions using ‘-e iss-’ are compensated by adjectives in the D. Smith text. Finally, in Smith’s text, the posture verbs joined with the ‘-e iss-’ aspectual marker are expressed in a progressive form. In addition, present perfect and present perfect progressive tenses are used with posture verbs to indicate the relationship between the event time and the speech time. The findings of the present study suggest that the Korean aspectual markers ‘-ko iss-’ and ‘-e iss-’ require complicated and detailed techniques to convey their meaning in the English language.

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