earticle

영어

This study aims to reconstruct the original form of the Gyeongsang dialect's final ending “-dakai”, and to clarify its morphological, syntactic, and semantic characteristics. As this ending is interchangeable with the Midland dialect's “-danigga” in many aspects, it has received little special attention in studies of the Gyeongsang dialect until now. However, in actual discourse, the two endings possess different semantic features and are subject to separate syntactic constraints. The endings “-danigga” and “-dakai” share the basic meaning of revisiting the content of a past utterance at the time of the current speech. The focus of “-danigga” is on a consequent utterance that has not yet been realized. Hence, the listener is required to infer the content implied by “-danigga”' and to take actions that align with the speaker’s expectations. On the other hand, the Gyeongsang dialect “-dakai” emphasizes the act of utterance and displays an attitude of certainty towards the proposition. Because it is impossible for the listener to question content that the speaker has already confirmed as fact, “-dakai” is difficult to use in interrogative sentences.