‘-을게(요)’의 기능 확장

Abstract

This paper investigated how ‘-ulkey(yo)’ gains the “imperative” function based on the corpus data on lectures, presentations, and speeches. Lectures, presentations, and speeches are the types of utterances with specific aims and a relatively fixed discourse structure and that there is an implicit agreement between the hearer and the speaker that the hearer will act in accordance with the speaker’s utterances. In such type of utterances, many speakers used ‘-ulkey(yo)’ to let the hearers know of what they would be talking afterward or to inform them of how they would proceed with the presentation. In some cases, the speakers, by inference, had the hearers take part in the action by informing them of the action in advance. As such inferences are repeated, the ‘-ulkey(yo)’ gains the “hortative” function as it signifies an action which the speaker, as well as the hearer, would take together. If the hearers frequently comprehend that the main agent of an action is not the speaker but the hearer themselves when ‘-ulkey(yo)’ is used with the “hortative” function, the “imperative” function of the ‘-ulkey(yo)’ appears. When ‘-ulkey(yo)’ is used in lectures, presentations, and speeches, the actual agent of the action is often understood as the hearer, because the speaker who leads the lecture already has knowledge on the various activities which would be covered. In such cases, which require simultaneous performance of the speaker and hearers when the hearers’ action is emphasized more than the speaker’s, the meaning of ‘-ulkey(yo)’ becomes the “imperative” and the speaker becomes able to use ‘-ulkey(yo)’ to give directions to the listener even when the listener is the only subject in a sentence.