'두루높음' 의 한 사회언어학적 해석 = A sociolinguistic explanation about Korean honorifics of '두루높임'

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

So far, we have seen that in the study of Korean, the honorific expression has been approached from purely linguistic aspect. Sung's(985) and Suh's(983) works are representative. However. as we well recognize, human language can exist only in society. It means that change in society has influenced how we should speak. The honorific expression in Korean is not an exception. Therefore, the inquiry from social linguistic viewpoint will enlarge what we have known about Korean honorific expression.
It appears that the honorific expression in Korean still exists and widely accepted. However, we find that although the current society seems to have pursued simplification. paradoxically. Korean honorific expression gets complicated. That not only 높임/ 낮춤' but also '두루높임/ 두루낮춤' is used generally in Korea testifies it. Then, why and how Korean has evolved contradictorily like this? Sung (1985) and Suh(1983) have tried to show when Koreans take the various forms of honorification. However, they cannot answer the question why Korean honorification could not be simplified, which as we agree, sociolinguistic analysis would be useful to solve with. This paper was intended for this.
In this purpose, we talked about how the usage of the sentence ending .-yo' can be differentiated. That is, we discussed how or when ' -yo' could mean '높임' or '두루높임' by considering the traditional 'power variable' which is revealed though the difference in 'age' or 'status' and the modern 'situational variable' which comprises various circumstances people encounter altogether. Meanwhile, by referring to the excerpts from the Korean TV melodramas and radio programs, We showed how the framework developed in this paper could be applied.
As a conclusion, we found that the emergence of '두루높임' or '두루낮춤' is far from the result of :implification of Korean honorification as we have believed. Rather, it seems to have originated from the uneasiness to accomodate the die-hard traditional social factors to the modern society. Differently, we can say that the effort to abide by the social canon arid the inevitable uncertainty of modern personal relationship forced Koreans to develop or choose ambiguous or defensive expression such as '두루높임' or '두루낮춤'. However, the question why is not resolved yet. As we mentioned before, it is really curious that Korean honorific expression took the course of complication rather than simplification. We know that it is almost unprecedented in other languages. Reasonably, it will be our next subject to delve into.