Dimensions of honorific meaning in Korean speech style particles

Abstract

In this paper we analyze a set of sentence final particles in Korean that express information on clause type and on the relation between speaker and addressee. Our focus is the latter type of information, known as speech style; we argue that it involves two distinct dimensions, hierarchy and formality. Hierarchy expresses the respective position of speaker and addressee relative to a scale based on a certain social relation (for example, boss-subordinate). We argue that formality is a way of classifying the social relation that forms the basis, or source, for the hierarchical relation. We extend the participant structure analysis of hierarchy from Portner, Pak, and Zanuttini (2019) to capture formality in a way that explains not only how the two dimensions are distinct, but also how they are related.

Mỹky interlocutor exponence and the syntax of the speech act

“…In a system that can derive the syntax behind morphological interlocutor exponence, we need to represent the Speaker and the Addressee (and the Speech Act) syntactically. I adopt the Participant Structure Analysis approach that was designed for such a goal, namely, to account for polite and familiar second person pronouns in Italian and Korean clause-typing morphemes that are sensitive to the placement of Speaker and Addressee on a hierarchy scale (Portner et al 2019;2022). As we will see, the two elements used in this system will prove extremely useful for a description of the Mỹky alternation (and also Chipaya), namely hierarchy and formality (Portner et al 2022:3).…”

“…In this paper I lay out a proposal to account for the alternation illustrated above as an instance of morphological indexing of speech act-level participants, rather than event-or clauselevel. In particular, I show that adopting the participant structure approach proposed by Portner et al (2019Portner et al ( , 2022 and expanding it to accommodate inter-participant relations beyond formality can account for the morphological alternation presented by Mỹky:…”

“…One of the morpheme slots on the right edge of the polysynthetic verb displays a morphological alternation, with one form corresponding to a speaker and addressee of the same category, and another form to interlocutors of different categories. I lay out a proposal to account for this alternation as an instance of morphological indexing of speech act-level participants, rather than event-or clause-level, by adopting a Participant Structure Analysis (Portner et al 2019(Portner et al , 2022 and reframing Status as a broader notion called Sameness.Keywords. syntax; morphology; Amazonian languages; speaker; addressee * I am extremely grateful to the Manoki and Mỹky people, especially my informants and language teachers Luíz Tamũxi, Regina Jalapyjtasi, Manoel Kanũxi, and Kamtinuwy Mỹky, as well as the people of the villages of Cravari (Tukujekumjema'i) and Japuíra (Irupjata).…”

“…One of the morpheme slots on the right edge of the polysynthetic verb displays a morphological alternation, with one form corresponding to a speaker and addressee of the same category, and another form to interlocutors of different categories. I lay out a proposal to account for this alternation as an instance of morphological indexing of speech act-level participants, rather than event-or clause-level, by adopting a Participant Structure Analysis (Portner et al 2019(Portner et al , 2022 and reframing Status as a broader notion called Sameness.…”