Korean honorifics: a case study analysis of Korean Speech levels in naturally occurring conversations

Abstract

The Korean honorific system, one of the significant grammatical systems in Korean, indicates the hierarchical social status of participants and plays an essential role in social interaction. For example, the speech levels are forms of sentence final suffixes attached to verbs and adjectives. They can be grammatically organized according to speakers' relationships. Speakers must choose among these verb endings and/or vocabulary items during every interaction. Therefore, the proper use of speech levels is a key factor in the expression of social identities, speakers' interpersonal feelings, and relationships.

However, interpersonal feelings and relationships are hard to explain through actual use of speech levels. There are two aspects of interpersonal relationships between the participants in a conversation that affect the use of honorifics: vertical distance (gender, age) and horizontal distance (the degree of intimacy), and these two aspects of interpersonal relationships show the complexity of the use of speech levels.

Because of the complexity of the use of speech levels, many Korean language learners feel that it is difficult to learn Korean speech levels. Several researchers have examined Korean language textbooks and language teaching in terms of Korean honorifics. They have pointed out several problems in current teaching materials and emphasized the importance of pragmatic factors and the necessity of authentic data to fully reflect actual Korean honorific uses. Addressing these issues, the thesis demonstrates the need for teaching materials that introduce how honorific speech levels are used in naturally occurring conversation by showing the complexity of how one speaker can use and switch among speech levels depending on the interlocutors or situations in the conversational interaction. Show more