This study examines the meaning functions of “-잖-”. Originating from the negative interrogative “-지 않-”, “-잖-” possesses a diverse variety of meaning functions in spoken language through the basis of the premise of mutual embedding...
This study examines the meaning functions of “-잖-”. Originating from the negative interrogative “-지 않-”, “-잖-” possesses a diverse variety of meaning functions in spoken language through the basis of the premise of mutual embedding.
The study was organized as follows. Part Ⅰ detailed the necessity and purpose of the study. The purpose of the study was to elucidate the meaning functions of “-잖-” as a spoken language.. Through this, the study attempts to prepare a program for the desirable presentation of “-잖-” in Korean language education. Part I also examined the first research to be done on “-잖-”. At this time, there is a large division between the view that “-잖-” originated from the negative interrogative “-지 않-”, and the view that “-잖-” originated from the final ending “-지” and “않-” that does not contain a negation meaning. This study used the view that “-잖-” originated from the negative interrogative “-지 않-”.
Part Ⅱ examined the various meaning functions of the negative interrogative in order to explain how the negative interrogative “-지 않-” can be used to confirm as well as to negate, and also explained that “-잖-” originated from this confirmation function of the negative interrogative. Part II also examines the grammaticalization of “-잖-” by directing attention to the morphological and semantic change that has occurred as coinciding with the shortening of “-잖-”.
Part Ⅲ explained the research data and process. Because the purpose of the study was to elucidate the meaning functions of “-잖-” as applicable to spoken language, real life conversations were used as research data. An inductive method of observation, classification, and analysis of the data was used to determine the meaning functions of “-잖-”. The study used transcripts of real life conversation complied by Kwon, Chae-Il(2005) and Kim, Cheong-seon(2005).
Part Ⅳ explained the meaning function of “-잖-”. “-잖-” may be divided into the "confirmation function", where information possessed by the speaker is confirmed to the listener through the basis of mutual embedding; the "sharing function", where information is shared between the speaker and listener and the listener and the "discourse marker formative function" which is comprised of discourse markers such as “있잖아”. Furthermore, the "sharing function" is subsequently divided into "including of the listener's information" and the "transfer of the speaker's information to the listener". The “-잖-” of the "confirmation function" retains the meaning function of the negative interrogative, however the "sharing function" displays not only the confirmation function of an interrogative sentence, but also the meaning function of a declarative sentence that transfers information. Particularly in the case of the "transfer of the speaker's information to the listener", the interrogative meaning function completely disappears and only the declarative meaning function is present. "including of the listener's information" is most frequently used in the interrogative confirmation function, the declarative information transfer function, and the premise of mutual embedding. Part IV also explained the aspects of the transformation of the meaning function. The negative interrogative displayed by the premise of mutual embedding caused the disappearance of intonation restriction that promotes final endings in spoken language by weakening the interrogative meaning function. Finally, because the sentences ends with a falling intonation like a declarative sentence, a new declarative information transfer meaning function appears. At this time, “-잖-” takes on a more effective role of transmitting of the contents of the speakers locution through the display of mutual embedding. However, the "transfer of information from the speaker to the listener" of “-잖-” reveals the attitudes of the speaker who wants to the speaker and listener to share information, even in situations where mutual embedding about the information the speaker wants to transfer can't be formed.
Part Ⅴ examined the meaning function of “-잖-” when presented as the target item in Korean Language textbooks. In Korean Language textbooks “-잖-” is presented as a verbal ending of “-잖아”, with an emphasis on the "including of the listener's information". However, it was possible to see that the “-잖-” of the "confirmation function" in many conversation sentences presented in textbooks is used together with the “-잖-” of the "transfer of the speaker's information to the listeners".
Part Ⅵ contained the conclusion and the proposal that “-잖-” may be viewed as a morpheme displaying the premise of mutual embedding, and that each meaning function should be presented as separate target items in Korean Language textbooks.
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