ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This paper used the concept of the `politeness`, in which the honorific system, one the most important characteristics of the Korean language is more comprehensively employed than anything else, to examine the formation mechanisms expressing politeness in the Korean language. It sought to identify politeness expressions for hearer honorifics in the levels of phonemes, grammar, vocabulary, and pragmatics. To this end, the following were examined: first, in terms of phonemes, whether politeness is generated by intonations or prolonged sound; second, in terms of grammar, whether it is generated by particles (case and auxiliary particles) or endings (prefinal, connective, and conclusive endings); third, in terms of vocabulary, whether it is generated by the use of address forms, polite or honorific words, auxiliary verbs; fourth, in terms of pragmatics, whether it is generated by the use of indirect expressions (request and refusal expressions), negative questions, modesty expressions, or hedges. In addition, the types of the generated expressions of politeness in the Korean language were classified and a survey was performed over the intensity and the frequency of the use of politeness in each type. Through this, a comparison was made between how Korean speakers perceive the intensity of politeness in each of the types of politeness expressions and the actual frequency of the use of them.