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영어

The purpose of this study is to examine the function of suspended clause in Japanese and Korean. A particular attention has been paid to clarify the functional similarities and differences between shi clause in Japanese and ko clause in Korean. The results found in this study are summarized as follows. (i) Shi in Japanese and ko in Korean share the commonalities in that both are employed to give additional explanation to the preceding sentences and to connect coexisting or contrastive events. (ii) Both encode the discordant event with respect to what the speaker expected. However, ko in Korean can not be used not only at the same time with the speaker’s perception but also as soliloquy. (iii) Shi can be marked with the imperative form, which is the idiosyncrasy of Japanese young generations, while ko in Korean can not. (iv) Both can be used as question-formulating device. However subtle difference exists between them. i.e Shi is used as soliloquy, while ko question in Korean conversation serves to reconfirm or clarify the preceding sentences or talks, thus, it requires the addressee’s reply. (v) Ko in Korean functions as a discourse marker at the utterance initial position, whereas this function lacks in Japanese shi.