A Comparative Analysis on Korean-Chinese Dimension Adjectives Zhang, Qi Humans exist in space. Therefore, the description on the space where objects including humans occupy is a very important cognitive activity to them. Dimension adjectives are used when such cognitive activities are performed. In case that they change from a spatial cognitive domain to another cognitive domain, many metaphorical expressions are used. Then, are the basic meaning and extended meaning of Chinese dimension adjectives completely identical to those of Korean counterparts? Through the comparative analysis, it has been confirmed that the answer for this question would be “no.” In terms of the basic meaning of words, the following words are identical to each other - “長, 短(길다[Gilda: long], 짧다[Jjaptta: short])”, “高, 低(높다[Noptta: high], 낮다[Natta: low])”, “深, 淺(깊다[Giptta: deep], 얕다[Yatta: shallow])”, “遠, 近(멀다[Meolda: far], 가깝다[Gakkapta: close])”, “厚, 薄(두껍다[Dukkeopta: thick], 얇다[Yalbtta: thin])”, “大, 小(크다[Keuda: large], 작다[Jaktta: small]).” However, it has been found that some words were nonidentical even in their basic meaning as in the following: “寬, 窄(넓다[Neolbtta: wide], 좁다[Jobtta: narrow])”, “粗, 細(굵다[Gulgtta: thick], 가늘다[Ganeulda: thin]/잘다[Jalda: tiny]).” In terms of the extended meaning of words, it has been observed that their corresponding manner was a lot more complex than in their basic meaning.

A Comparative Analysis on Korean-Chinese Dimension Adjectives Zhang, Qi Humans exist in space. Therefore, the description on the space where objects including humans occupy is a very important cognitive activity to them. Dimension adjectives are used when such cognitive activities are performed. In case that they change from a spatial cognitive domain to another cognitive domain, many metaphorical expressions are used. Then, are the basic meaning and extended meaning of Chinese dimension adjectives completely identical to those of Korean counterparts? Through the comparative analysis, it has been confirmed that the answer for this question would be “no.” In terms of the basic meaning of words, the following words are identical to each other - “長, 短(길다[Gilda: long], 짧다[Jjaptta: short])”, “高, 低(높다[Noptta: high], 낮다[Natta: low])”, “深, 淺(깊다[Giptta: deep], 얕다[Yatta: shallow])”, “遠, 近(멀다[Meolda: far], 가깝다[Gakkapta: close])”, “厚, 薄(두껍다[Dukkeopta: thick], 얇다[Yalbtta: thin])”, “大, 小(크다[Keuda: large], 작다[Jaktta: small]).” However, it has been found that some words were nonidentical even in their basic meaning as in the following: “寬, 窄(넓다[Neolbtta: wide], 좁다[Jobtta: narrow])”, “粗, 細(굵다[Gulgtta: thick], 가늘다[Ganeulda: thin]/잘다[Jalda: tiny]).” In terms of the extended meaning of words, it has been observed that their corresponding manner was a lot more complex than in their basic meaning.

Korean-Chinese, Dimension Adjectives, Comparative Analysis