earticle

영어

This paper is intended to examine Korean epistemic modality associated with a perspective-switch from the speaker to his/her hearer, as observed in cases such as 'tuleka-si-l-key-yo' ('Please enter'). Within the cognitive lingusitics theory of conceptual blending (Fauconnier 1998, 2001, 2003; Turner 2008) adopted for the purpose of this study, it is proposed that the speaker's and his/her hearer's conceptual spaces for perspective-taking are blended into a new space in which the speaker becomes motivated to act as the agent of the requested action (e.g., ‘enter'), as evidenced in his/her own utterance of '-key.' It was suggested that the acquisition processes of Korean epistemic modals be predicted by the degree to which the mental spaces underlying them are complex if the theory were psychologically real. It was observed that the modals '-ci,' '-ney,' and '-tay,' for example, involve a single, double, and multiple mental space, respectively, in that '-ci' denotes the speaker's own prior experience and nobody else's, while '-ney' requires that the speaker's perspective as well as his/her hearer's be involved. A reportative statement ending in '-tay' is also thought to be associated with a multiple set of mental spaces such as a space for the informer of the reported fact, for the protagonist in it, and for its hearer as well as its speaker. Given these differences in terms of the number of mental spaces involved, it was noted that '-ci' is simpler than '-ney,' 'ney' being simpler than '-tay.' It was found that the simpler the mental spaces of modality are, the earlier it emerges in child language, and the prediction of the cognitive blending theory was borne out. It was concluded that the blending of mental spaces in Korean epistemic modality is likely to be psychologically real in triggering a perspective-switch with varying degrees to be determined by the complexity of mental spaces associated with it.