The Sentence-Ending Suffix -Ketun in Spoken Korean Discourse: Sequential Organization of Informing as Account-Giving

Kim Kyu-hyun (김규현)

The Sentence-Ending Suffix -Ketun in Spoken Korean Discourse: Sequential Organization of Informing as Account-Giving

The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea
Abbr : 사회언어학
2010, 18(1), pp.217~248
Publisher : The Sociolinguistic Society Of Korea
Research Area : Humanities > Linguistics

Kim Kyu-hyun ¹

¹경희대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

From a conversation-analytic perspective, this paper examines the ways in which the Korean sentence-ending suffix (SES) -ketun is used in naturally occurring spoken Korean discourse. Focusing on the question of how the practice of informing implemented by the ketun-utterance provides a basis for the sequentially implemented action of account-giving (Kim & Suh 2009), it analyzes (i) the nature of the information marked by -ketun in terms of how it is grounded, (ii) the sequential contexts where the informing sequence that -ketun generates is embedded, and (iii) features of the ketun-marked account with reference to the practices of formulating non-negotiable upshot, evoking positionally relevant identities, unpackaging information geared to enlightening the addressee, and stance-shifting. These practices are analyzed as being constitutive of the action-organizational features of the ketun-marked account, whose upshot is proposed to be that of evoking and managing the information gap or disparity in knowledge asserted by the speaker to exist between the participants.

KEYWORDS

sentence-ending suffix, conversation analysis, practice, informing, account-giving, sequence, stance shift

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

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