earticle

영어

The present study examined the time-related linguistic expressions in the Koreanlanguage and the English language. The way to perceive and to express timerelatedconcepts shows how abstract concepts are expressed through concreteconcepts. The existing research revealed that the semantic structures of the timeexpressions are closely connected to spatial concepts; this is supported by wordsand expressions that can express both time and spatial concepts across contexts. Considering that the way of using spatial concepts to express time-related ideasis metaphorical, the time expressions are fundamentally metaphorical. The studyused authentic data of such usage, which are examples obtained from a corpus,to analyze the difference between the two languages in terms of using spatialconcepts to express time-related ideas or events. The results showed that theKorean words for expressing spatial concepts are fully capable of expressingtime concepts. In English, however, the words to express both concepts of timeand space are relatively limited; the words for time concepts and the words forspatial concepts are not always interchangeable, although they are semanticallysimilar. Such differences between Korean and English can have significance inlanguage learning and intercultural communication.