A Comparative Study on Speculation Forms of Interrogative Sentences in Korean and Japanese

• Main Author: Chang-Hak MOON
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts) 2019-07-01
• Series: Acta Linguistica Asiatica
• Subjects: speculation; interrogation; -keyss-nya; darooka; judgement formation
• Online Access: https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/article/view/8472

This article reveals the interrogative aspect of speculation forms in Japanese and Korean, including the characteristics of -keyss-nya in Korean and darooka in Japanese. -keyss-nya and darooka by definition indicate meanings of both “speculation” and “interrogation”, and thus it is anticipated that the semantic characteristics of these forms will not differ significantly. However, one perceives many differences when examining the semantic characteristics of both. First, a characteristic of -keyss-nya is its <listener-oriented interrogative sentences> with strong communicativity, whereas a characteristic of darooka is its <speaker-oriented interrogative sentences> with weak communicativity. Second, based on this characteristic of <listener-oriented interrogative sentences>, -keyss-nya is not made into “question usage that does not solicit an answer” or “exclamation usage,” but it may be made into “strong rhetorical questions.” Meanwhile, based on the characteristic of <speaker-oriented interrogative questions> with weak communicativity, darooka may be derived into “question usage that does not solicit an answer”, “exclamation usage”, and “weak rhetorical interrogative sentences.” As stated above, different semantic meanings of -keyss-nya and darooka result from semantic differences between -keyss- and daroo. The -keyss- meaning of “completion of judgement formation” is reflected in -keyss-nya’s characteristics of <listener-oriented interrogative sentences>, and daroo’s meaning of the “judgement formation process” is reflected in darooka’s characteristics of <speaker-oriented interrogative sentences>.