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Discourse Phenomena in Typological Perspective
Edited by Alessandra Barotto and Simone Mattiola
[Studies in Language Companion Series 227] 2023
► pp. 201–227

Chapter 8
Repetitive constructions and stance-marking

The case in Korean

| Sangmyung University
| Mahidol University | Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Korean has highly formulaic patterns of repeating a sentence two or more times with a variation of speech level indicated by the sentence-final particles. The repetition usually involves progressive downward modulation of the speech level from more formal to less formal. The repeated sentences occur within a single intonation contour, thus forming an utterance unit, and carry diverse intersubjective and interpersonal functions that are not available in the mere repetition of an identical sentence. By virtue of having the pairing of a syntactic pattern and a non-compositional meaning, these patterns are best considered a construction, named here as Multiply Juxtaposed Sentences (MJSs). MJSs encode the speaker’s subtle negative attitude toward the addressee.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Preliminaries: Korean syntax
  • 3.Formal characteristics of MJS
    • 3.1[Deferential > Informal Polite] shift
    • 3.2[Informal polite > Intimate] shift
    • 3.3[Plain > Intimate] shift
    • 3.4Copula-MJSs
  • 4.Functional characteristics of MJSs
  • 5.Discussion of some prominent issues
    • 5.1Speech style shifting across languages
    • 5.2Repetition across languages
    • 5.3Sentencehood
    • 5.4Strategic speech-level manipulation
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 1 March 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.227.08koo
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

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2023. Between honorifics and non-honorifics: A study of the Korean semi-honorific style and a comparison with Japanese. Discourse Studies 25:5 ► pp. 664 ff. DOI logo

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