earticle

영어

The purposes of this study are, firstly, to argue that ‘-ni-’ in middle Korean is reconstructed into a prefinal morpheme in declarative sentences and retains its characteristics as one of the constitutive elements of nominal sentence in interrogative sentences; secondly, in declarative sentences, ‘-ni-’ has a pragmatic function as an element that demands the hearer’s recognition of the contents of the proposition. In this study I investigated some of the constraints including the characteristics of sentences in which ‘-ni-’ is used, in order to find out whether ‘-ni-’ has any morphemic characteristics: i) ‘-ni-’ appears only in declarative sentences and interrogative sentence; ii) it is not used in definition clauses, indirect quotative sentences or conjunctive endings; iii) it can be omitted in front of ‘-ɦi-’. All these phenomena suggest two important points. First, ‘-ni-’ in declarative sentences has been reconstructed into a prefinal morpheme. Second, the function of ‘-ni-’ does not signify the speaker’s attitude towards the content of the proposition but rather has to do with the speaker’s attitude toward the listener. This study also examines the pragmatic function of ‘-ni-’ and the tense of a ‘-ni-’ clause. The aorist form should be acknowledged assuming that what determines the tense in the ‘-ni-’ clauses must be the character of the semantic class of verbs in VP since ‘-ni-’ is a morpheme which has nothing to do with the tense. Furthermore, ‘verb․adjective stem+ (si)+ ta’ clauses could be divided into two groups. The first group that does not have anything to do with tense is absolute sentences, whereas the second one that indicates particular tense is an aorist. The pragmatic function of ‘-ni-’ demands the listener's recognition of the contents of the proposition. Furthermore, the characteristics of ‘-ni-’ of interrogative sentences have been discussed along with those of ‘-ri-’. When ‘-ni-, and ‘-ri-’ come before ‘-ɧitk’a’ and ‘-ɧitk’o’ they were regarded as constituents of nominal sentences based on their constructural characteristics rather than their meanings. The characteristics of ‘-ni-’ and ‘-ri-’ that are positioned in front of ‘-ə’ or ‘-o’ can be divided into rather complex categories. In this case too, ‘-ni-’ is a constituent of nominal sentences, and ‘-ri-’ is a prefinal morpheme when it is positioned between ‘NP + i’ and ‘-ə’ or ‘-o’. However, it is a constituent of nominal sentences in two additional cases when it is positioned between VP constructions and ‘-ə, -o’.

한국어

이 글에서는 중세국어 서술문과 의문문의 문말에 나타나는 선어말 형태소 ‘-니-’의 문법적 제약과 형태소 자격을 확인하고, ‘-니-’의 문법적 기능을 밝히고자 하였다. ‘-니-’에는 문법적 제약을 포함한 여러 가지 특징이 있다. 첫째, ‘-니-’는 서술문과 의문문에서만 나타나며, 서술문 중에서도 감탄 구문과 원망 구문에는 쓰이지 않는다. 둘째, ‘-니-’는 語釋 구문에 쓰이지 않는다. 셋째, ‘-니-’는 간접 인용문에 쓰이지 않는다. 넷째, ‘--’ 앞에서 ‘-니-’가 수의적으로 탈락한다. 다섯째, 접속어미 앞에서는 ‘-니-’가 쓰이지 않는다. 이 모든 현상은 서술문의 ‘-니-’가 선어말 형태소로 재구조화되었음을 보여 준다. ‘-니-’는 시제와 무관한 형태소이다. 시제 관련 형태소가 없는 ‘-니-’ 구문에서 시제를 결정하는 것은 용언의 동작류적 특성이므로, 이 경우를 부정법으로 처리한 종래의 견해는 타당한 것이었다. 단 ‘동사․형용사 어간+(시)+다’ 구문은 둘로 구분하여, 시제와 무관한 부류는 절대문으로, 특정 시제를 나타내는 부류는 부정법 문장으로 처리해야 한다. 종래에 널리 수용되어 온 ‘원칙법’은 양태적 기능과 화용적 기능을 아우르는 것이었다. 그러나 ‘-니-’는 양태와는 무관하다. 서술문의 ‘-니-’는 명제 내용에 대한 인지를 청자에게 요구하는 형태소이다. 의문문의 ‘-니-’는 구조적인 면에서 명사문 구성 요소의 성격을 보여 준다.