Discourse functions of Korean ‘yes’ words

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 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/24679

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UMBC Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication Department
UMBC Faculty Collection

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3166-4809

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2022-03-28

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journal articles
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Pyun, Danielle O. and Kyung-Eun Yoon. Discourse functions of Korean ‘yes’ words. Korean Linguistics 18 (Mar 2022) Issue 1,, p. 48 - 75. https://doi.org/10.1075/kl.00013.pyu

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Abstract

This study examines discourse functions of Korean ‘yes’ words from an interactional perspective based on naturally-occurring conversation data. Tokens of yey, ney, ey, ung, um, and e in Korean are widely recognized as affirmative responses. A close examination of these tokens, however, reveals wide-ranging interactional functions through which speakers express active engagement, share information, negotiate meaning, and maintain discourse coherence. The present study identifies a total of fifteen discourse-pragmatic functions of Korean ‘yes’ words: (1) affirmative answer, (2) confirmation, (3) acceptance, (4) agreement, (5) answer to summons, (6) acknowledge ment, (7) change-of-state, (8) change-of-activity, (9) response solicitation, (10) reinforcement, (11) other initiation of repair, (12) closing of phone call, (13) continuer, (14) proposal to discontinue the on-going action for the sake of a larger course of action, and (15) arguably hesitation marker. This study demonstrates that the interactional approach enables the discovery of varied discourse functions of a type of linguistic items, which may not be readily available in dictionaries or grammar reference guides.