Setting subject and the inferential cleft construction in Korean

Park, Chongwon; Yeon, Jaehoon; Kim, Jong-Bok

Abstract

This article aims to develop a cognitive-functional analysis of the Korean inferential cleft construction (ICC) by identifying two motivations. It is demonstrated that the ICC must be understood as a mechanism to improve coherence and relevance in the text; it is first and foremost motivated to establish relationships between the preceding context and the event denoted by the subordinate clause headed by kes. By pointing out that attempts to ascertain concrete meanings of the ICC are bound to be futile, we argue that various meanings the ICC exhibits arise by mapping it onto the result phase of the epistemic cycle. The second motivation for the ICC is to put the proposition in the spotlight by indicating that the global circumstances, not the speaker, warrant judgment. Consequently, the speaker staves off the responsibility for her epistemic judgment.

Citation

Park, C., Yeon, J., & Kim, J.-B. (online). Setting subject and the inferential cleft construction in Korean. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00182.par

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 29, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 12, 2024
• Journal: Review of Cognitive Linguistics
• Print ISSN: 1877-9751
• Electronic ISSN: 1877-976X
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00182.par
• Keywords: reference point ; specificational copula ; epistemic judgment ; setting subject ; inferential cleft construction ; epistemic cycle