A Pragmatic Analysis of Deactivated Pronouns in the Korean

Linguistic Context

Malika Mukhiddinova

Tashkent State Pedagogical University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Korean Language, Pronoun, Demonstrative Pronouns, Function, Types of Pronouns, Structure, Morphology,

Syntactic Function.

Abstract: The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that by now the level and depth of study of pronouns

does not correspond, firstly, to the generally accepted and general modern level of theoretical development of

the Korean language as a whole, and, secondly, to the backbone role that pronouns play in the general

structuring of the language . The ability to perform the function of a subject, predicate, etc., is one of the

important distinctive structural forms in the grammar of the language under study, which requires special

study. Until now, as a result of research, only the morphological features of pronouns in the Korean language

have been determined, leaving the issues of the syntactic functioning of pronouns unresolved. Such studies

are important for the development of theoretical linguistics and methods of teaching the studied language.

1 INTRODUCTION

As you know, pragmatics is a relatively young area of

linguistics. The term “pragmatics” (from the Greek

“deed”, “action”) was introduced into scientific use

by one of the founders of semiotics (general theory of

signs) C. Morris. The emergence of pragmatics was

due to the fact that structural linguistics and logical

semantics had “a weak connection with reality and

the practical activities of people’, so in the 60-70s

there was a sharp turn to the study of the pragmatic

aspects of the language. A powerful stream of

research on pragmatics was initiated by the works of

L. Wittgenstein. The scientist, pointing out the need

to take into account the extralinguistic situation,

forms the concept of the meaning of the word as its

use. In Philosophical Investigations, he writes: “the

meaning of a word is its use in language”.

2 LEARNING THE PRONOUN

The issues of studying pronouns in the Korean

language are reflected in the works of linguists such

as A.A. Kholodovich, Yu.N. Mazur, G.I. Ramstedt,

Ik Sop, Han Kil (Mazur, 2001; Kholodovich, 1964;

Ramstedt, 1951; Young-soon, 2001; Hangil, 2006 ),

etc. All words in the Korean language, in terms of

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2866-6659

their designation of reality, fall into two categories.

Some name individual phenomena of reality (objects,

their properties, actions, states); they have a naming

function. Others only point to certain phenomena of

reality (to objects, their signs, etc.), without naming

them. They can also point to a particular word already

mentioned in the context, for example: 친구의

아버지가 집에 돌아왔습니다. My friend’s father

came home.

그분이 극장에 갔다 왔습니다. He went to the

theater.

These words perform a demonstrative function.

Under certain conditions, words that perform a

nominative function can be used as indicative, on the

contrary, words that perform a demonstrative

function, under certain conditions, can be used as

names.

All demonstrative words are correlated with

denominatives. But some of them, namely those that

point to objects of objective reality, are correlated

with nouns. Others of them, namely those that

indicate signs, are correlated with adjectives. The

third of them are correlated with adverbs, etc. This

correlation, as a rule, is found in the fact that

demonstrative words reflect, to a greater or lesser

extent, the morphological structure of those nominal

words with which they are interconnected.

Words that perform a demonstrative function are

united by a common name - pronouns. This term is

Mukhiddinova, M.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Deactivated Pronouns in the Korean Linguistic Context.

DOI: 10.5220/0012675400003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 93-98

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

conditional and does not reflect, like most traditional

terms, the true meaning of the words of this category

(Ik-seop, 2001). Pronouns can be considered as a

special part of speech. In this case, it is defined as a

word digit with a pointer function. But pronouns may

not leave a special part of speech. In this case, they

are distributed over other parts of speech, forming in

their composition a special group of words with

demonstrative functions (for example, pronominal

nouns, pronominal adjectives, pronominal adverbs,

etc.) The solution of the question in one direction or

another depends on which least morphologically and

syntactically isolated this category of words.

In Korean, words with a demonstrative function

can be distinguished as an independent part of speech,

since they have a number of morphological and

syntactic features. Firstly, pronouns are not endowed

with all those syntactic potencies that are

characteristic of those parts of speech with which they

are correlated. Pronouns, as a rule, have limited

syntactic compatibility. An adjective can be

combined with an adverb (아주 좋다”very good”),

but the associated pronoun (pronominal adjective)

cannot be combined with an adverb, for example, the

words 이렇다 ” such”,어떻다 “which” cannot be

preceded by adverbs. A noun can be combined with a

nominal definition, but the pronoun associated with it

(pronominal noun) does not enter into combination

with a nominal definition. A noun can be combined

with a definition-adjective, but the pronoun

associated with it has this ability only in exceptional

cases, in certain styles of artistic speech. Thus,

syntactically, pronouns are clearly opposed to those

parts of speech that are correlated with them.

Secondly, pronouns are autonomous to a large

extent and morphologically. So, for example, a

number of pronouns (이, 그, 저 in the meaning of

“this, that”), acting as definitions, are devoid of

attributive features, in contrast to words with a

nominative function (names, adjectives, verbs),

which these features have or may have optionally.

Other pronouns (나 “I”, 너 “you”) have significant

declension deviations that contrast them with nouns.

A number of features are also found in the formation

of the plural. A number of pronouns that have the

ability to decline do not have all cases. Thus,

morphologically, pronouns to a large extent oppose

those parts of speech with which they are correlated.

For the above reasons, they are singled out by us

in a special part of speech. All pronouns in Korean in

terms of modality can be divided into groups:

interrogative-indefinite, affirmative-definite (Jeong-

su, 1996).

From the point of view of the nature of the

indication (indication of the subject, indication of the

sign, etc.), they can be divided into nominal

(indication of the subject), adjectives (indication of

the sign), adverbs (indication of the sign of the sign)

and numerals (indication of the number) (Phil, 2003;

Girutsky, 2003; Kim, n.d.).

Types of pronouns in Korean: Taking into

account the opinions of foreign linguists, we can

distinguish a general classification of pronouns. In

general, pronouns can be divided into two large

groups: interrogative-indefinite and affirmative-

definite.

Figure 1: Interrogative indefinite pronouns.

Figure 2: Affirmative definite pronouns.

So, having defined and examined the types of

pronouns, we can say that non-derivative pronouns

combine the meanings of interrogative and indefinite

pronouns. Derived pronouns are formed by adding

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morphemes to them –든지, -ㄴ지, -나. Derived

pronouns have no interrogative meaning. Some of

them, with a negative predicate, acquire the meaning

of negative pronouns. For example:

누구든지 “anyone”, “no one”

무엇이든지 “anything”, ‘nothing”

어디든지 “somewhere”, “nowhere”

어디서든지 “somewhere”, “nowhere’

Demonstrative pronouns form the basis of

pronouns that are substitutes for nouns, adjectives,

and adverbs. Depending on the relationship to the

speaker (first person), these pronouns are divided into

three groups: pronouns of the first (close to the

speaker), second (more distant from the speaker) and

third (most distant from the speaker) plans. All

pronouns substitutes for a name have the same

morphological features as the part of speech they

replace. In particular, this means that they can change

by case and have plural forms.

Third person pronouns are etymologically either

non-personal pronouns or nouns used as pronouns

(Kobozeva, 2004; Kobozeva, 2000). So, we can say

that all third person pronouns go back to the

demonstrative pronouns that underlie them.

2.1 Grammatical Features of

Demonstrative Pronouns

So, the main function of demonstrative pronouns

in Korean is to indicate an object or place using 이,

그, 저, which are rarely used on their own, but mostly

with a dependent noun –것, pointing to an object.

Consider the following cases.

Pointing to the subject: When pointing to an

object nearby, pronouns are used.이, 이것 “this”

(singular); 이들, 이것들 “these’ (plural). The

pronoun “이’ is used on its own and can indicate the

general content of the previous sentence, as well as in

the plural form «이들».

이 것은 나의 책입니다.- This is my notebook.

1) When pointing to an object that is not so far

away, pronouns are used 그것 “that” (singular)

그것들 “those’ (plural).

The pronoun 그 by itself cannot indicate

involvement in the previous sentence, but can only

have such functions in the form 그것.

그 것은 내가 좋아하는 음식이다.- This is the

food I like.

1) When referring to an object that is far away,

the pronouns 저것 “over that” (singular), 저것들

“over there” (plural) are used.

저 것은 내가 찾은 물건이다. - This is just the

thing I was looking for.

2) When pointing to an indefinite subject,

pronouns are used 무엇 “What”, 어느 것 “which”.

For example:

나는 그것이 무엇인지 모르겠다. – I do not

know what is this.

2) When indicating the value “any”, use 아무

것

아무 것이나 물어 보십시오. – Ask anything.

Pointing to the place.

1) 1) When pointing to a place close to the

speaker, pronouns are used 여기 “Here”

여기에는 제일 큰 시장입니다- This is the

biggest market.

2) When pointing to a place close to the listener

거기 “there”.거기 있는 집은 내가 어렸을 때 살던

집입니다.

Over there is the house where I lived as a child.

2) 2) When pointing to a place that is far from the

speaker and from the listener 저기 “over there”.

3) 저기에 뭐가 있습니까?- What is there?

4) 4) When referring to an indefinite place, use

the pronoun 어디 “where”

너는 고향이 어디니? - Where is your homeland?

5) When referring to “nowhere”, use 아무 데

‘some place”

그 나라 말고는 아무 데도 없다. – There is

nowhere else in this country.

So, the main feature of demonstrative pronouns is

to point to objects or a place, depending on the

location of the speaker and listener.

Also one of the features of demonstrative

pronouns is that in the case of attaching case particles

to these pronouns, it is possible to reduce the forms:

1) attaching a case particle 이 \ 가

long form shortened form

이

것이 (This) 이 게 (This)

그 것이 (That) 그 게 (That)

저 것이 (over there) 저 게 (over there)

2) attaching a qualifying particle 는 \ 은

long form shortened form

이 것은 (This) 이 건 (This)

그 것은 (That) 그 건(That)

저 건은 (over there) 저 건 (over there)

3) attaching a case particle 를 \ 을

long form shortened form

이 것을 (This) 이 걸 (This)

그 것을 (That) 그 걸 (That)

저 것을 (over there) 저 걸 (over there)

4) demonstrative pronouns

long form shortened form

여기는 (Here) 여긴 (Here)

거기는 (there) 거긴

(there)

저기는 (over there) 저긴 (over there)

Semantics (designation) of demonstrative

pronouns are composed of a number of meanings. A

demonstrative pronoun defines or denotes a thing,

person, or some other object.

In the meaning of subject or personal pronouns,

some nouns and functional names are used in

combination with demonstrative pronouns 이, 그, 저:

A Pragmatic Analysis of Deactivated Pronouns in the Korean Linguistic Context

이것 “This”, 그것 “That”, 저것 “over there”, 이분

“this person”, 그분 “that man”, 이사람 “this person”,

그 동무 “that friend”, 이놈 letters “this creature”

when used in relation to a person, it has a

contemptuous meaning.

On the basis of demonstrative pronouns, words

with a pronominal meaning are formed that make up

correlative series: a) nouns 여기, 거기, 저기; b)

adverbs 이리, 그리, 저리; c) adjectives 이렇다,

그렇다, 저렇다.

2.2 The Relationship of the

Demonstrative Pronoun with Parts

of Speech in Korean

As one or another member of the sentence, not

just words function, but words as representatives of

one or another part of speech. This is why we usually

say that, for example, in the sentence 이것은

사과입니다 “this is an apple”, the subject is not the

word “이것”, but the demonstrative pronoun “이것

”.

When studying the members of a sentence, one

has to pay special attention to which part of speech

acts as one or another member of the sentence. As a

rule, the form of the sentence member is also

connected with this. So, for example, in Korean, a

pronoun can also be a predicate. But in this case, it is

attached to the verb -이다, and takes the form of a

predicate, while the pronoun as a subject does not

require this form and therefore does not have it. Thus,

there is a certain connection between the member of

the sentence and the part of speech. This connection

is not identical. If there was an identity between the

members of the sentence and the parts of speech, then

the pronoun or noun, etc. it would be only the subject,

and the verb only the predicate; the adjective could

not be a predicate, but only a definition. Then the dual

terminology (subject and pronoun, predicate and

verb, definition and adjective) would lose all

meaning, would be unnecessary terminological

waste. Meanwhile, reality teaches us that a pronoun

is not necessarily only a subject, but also an object

and a definition; a verb is not only a predicate, but

also a subject and a definition, etc. For example,

그것을 본다 “I see this” (그것 is an object), 책이

여기다 “the book is here” (여기- predicate part),

저것은 비싸요 “it’s expensive” (저것- subject), etc.

Thus, the connection between parts of speech and

members of a sentence has nothing to do with

identity. But this is not a complete contradiction, not

a complete lack of interdependence. The presence of

a relationship, and at the same time a certain one, is

clear even for ordinary linguistic consciousness. The

question of what a pronoun in a sentence can be

answered in different ways, but the first answer will

always be the same: the subject. Any other answer

would be as unexpected as if we, having asked to

name a number of nouns, heard in response: “this,

that, there” instead of ‘this, that, there.” There is no

identity between parts of speech and members of a

sentence, but there is a certain correspondence. This

correspondence is found in the fact that each part of

speech is primarily characterized by basic, primary

syntactic functions, in relation to which all other

functions are secondary. At the same time, primary

and secondary is not something subjective, existing

only in the concept. Primary or secondary is found in

the forms of the word itself, i.e. objectively. This

objective criterion can be formulated as follows: the

primary, main syntactic function of the part of speech

will be the one that is expressed by the original form

of the word, and the derivative is the one that is

expressed by the derivative form of the word. For

example, in Korean, the word 여기 “here” has the

following forms: 여기로, 여기에, 여기에서,

여기까지 etc, but of all these forms, only 여기 is the

main one even for ordinary consciousness, all the rest

are perceived as derivatives. Since 여기 can only

function as a subject, we conclude that the subject is

the main function of a pronoun in a sentence, since

여기로, 여기에, 여기에서, 여기까지

(secondary

forms) function accordingly as an adverb, we

conclude that the adverbial function is secondary for

the pronoun. Thus, a certain relationship is

established between the members of the sentence and

the parts of speech, a correspondence that does not

turn into an identity.

In Korean, the main members of a sentence

include subject, predicate, direct object and object,

which are obligatory members that form the structure

of a Korean sentence.

The secondary members of the proposal include

definition, circumstance, which are optional members

of the proposal.

Let us consider in detail the functions of

demonstrative pronouns as members of a sentence.

2.3 Demonstrative Pronoun in the

Function of the Main Members of

the Sentence

As you know, the subject is a syntactic function of the

noun, numeral, verb, adjective and pronoun. But for

each of the listed parts of speech, the ability to be the

subject is not the same. So, the ability of the pronoun

to be the subject is the primary syntactic function of

the name.

The position of the subject is called the subjective

position. Thus, the subject should be considered as

the name of the word, standing as a member of the

sentence in the subject position. In this work, the view

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is carried out that the position of the subject is

opposed to the position of the predicate, that the

subject in relation to the word that communicates

something is the word on which the latter relies. In its

simplest form, this can be expressed as:

무엇이 어찌하다 does something

무엇이 어떠하다 something some

무엇이 무엇이다 something is something

The subject, like other members of the sentence,

can be expressed by the phrase-pronoun.

저렇게 아름다운 그것이 또 있을까

If anything is more beautiful than this.

저 두 사람이 이제도 우리를 도와주었다

Those two are still helping us.

In most cases, the subject is in the nominative

case, followed by the nominative particle 이/가.

그분이 학생이 아니고 선생님이다. – Этот

человек не ученик, а учитель.

Less commonly, the subject has less typical

forms, which are accompanied by so-called auxiliary

particles.

여기는 타슈켄트에서 제일 유명한

대학교입니다.- This is the most famous institute in

Tashkent.

그것도 알아야 되요. – You also need to know

this.

When using these auxiliary particles, the particle

of the nominative case 이/가 is not used. Particles –

만, -부터, -까지 can be used with the nominative

particle 이/가:

그분만 그 날

모임에 참석하지 못 했다.

Only that person could not attend the meeting

여기까지 읽어 주세요. – Read up to here.

그 날부터 열심히 공부하기 시작했다.

From that day on, I started working hard.

Demonstrative pronoun in predicate function:

The predicate is the syntactic function of the verb and

the conjugated adjective. The demonstrative pronoun

itself does not form a predicate. It participates in the

formation of the predicate as a link, acting as a part of

the predicate as a linking member. Thus, two main

types of predicates are distinguished: simple and

compound. A simple predicate is a predicate

consisting of a verb or a conjugated adjective. For

example, 온다 in the sentence 비가 온다 “it’s

raining’.

A predicate is called a compound, which can

include both a pronoun, as a linking member, and a

bunch. For example, 그것이다 in the sentence

한국어 책은 그것이다 “the Korean book is over

there”.

Anchor member is expressed:

1) Auxiliary particle -은/는 with affirmative link

-이다.

А: 친구는 누구니? - Who is your friend?

Б: 친구는 그이다. - Friend over there man.

Nominative case with a negative link – 아니다

그것이 아니다. – Not this.

여기가 아니다. – not here.

In addition to the abstract connectives -이다 and

-아니다, there are also semi-material connectives.

These include the intransitive 되다 “to become” and

the transitive copulas 여기다 “to count”, 삼다 ‘to

count as’. Demonstrative pronouns can also be used

as a linking member in the ligament 되다, they are

formed in the nominative case, and instrumental is

also possible.

가: 누가 선생님이 되었어요? – Who became a

teacher?

나: 그분이 되었어요. – That person became.

가: 누가 선생님으로 되었어요?

나: 그분이 되었어요.

Demonstrative pronouns, when used together

with the verbs 여기다 and 삼다, take the instrumental

case. For example:

가: 그 사람 성격은 정말 이상해요. – the

character of that person is really strange.

나: 그것으로 여기지 마세요. - You don't think

so.

2.4 Demonstrative Pronoun in Direct

Object Function

In Korean, the word for indicator or object is called

direct object or object word. Most often, with the help

of a direct object, the object to which the action is

directed is indicated. The meaning of the direct object

conveyed by the direct object is a very broad

grammatical meaning. It summarizes the manifold

relationships between action and object. A direct

object can denote an object created in the course of an

action or a finished object that is exposed to an action.

It can be a specific object or a specific action, or

various abstract processes and their objects.

The designation of the object itself usually

involves the use of words of subject grammatical

semantics. Therefore, in the role of a direct object,

mainly nominal parts of speech, including the

pronoun, are used.

The direct complement is formed:

With the particle -을/를, which is attached to the

non-conjugated part of speech.

누가 이것을 여기에 걸었느냐? – Who hung this

here?

거기를 알아요? – Do you know that place?

The direct complement particle can be reduced:

아까 여기에 있었는데 그걸 봤어? – It was here

recently, didn't you see it?

The direct object is sometimes formed by

auxiliary particles or auxiliary particles in

combination with a particle of the direct object. For

example:

A Pragmatic Analysis of Deactivated Pronouns in the Korean Linguistic Context

저 사람은 이것은 잘 배우지만 그것은 배우지

못 한다. – Although those two teach this well, they

cannot teach that.

그가 이것뿐만 아니라 그것도 잘 한다.- He not

only does that, but he does that well.

나는 이거만 마셔요. – I only drink it.

그 학생은 이것까지를 배운다. – That student

even teaches it.

2.5 Demonstrative Pronoun in

Complement Function

An object is a member of a sentence that completes

the predicate. So in Korean, the verb 되다 and the

predicative adjective 아니다, which act as a

predicate, require an object in addition to the subject.

For example: 그것이 아니고 저것이다. - Not this,

but that.

The pronouns 그것 and 저것 are complementary

and are formed by particles -이/가. An addition is a

word introduced into a sentence together with a

predicate to complete the meaning, since the

completeness of the meaning is not created by the

subject, predicate and direct object. However,

complement in Korean has not yet developed into a

distinct category, which is why there are no clear

criteria for distinguishing between complement and

adverbial definition, and it is impossible to draw a

clear line between them. It is believed that the

addition completes the predication expressed by the

predicate, but the question arises - how then does it

differ from definitions that clarify the meaning of the

predicate? Korean linguist Kwon Jae-il argues that

the absence of an object deprives a sentence of

meaning, but this can also happen in the absence of

an adverbial definition:

나는 이것을 그것으로 삼았다. - I considered

that.

이것은 저것과 다르다. – This is different from

that.

If the words 그것으로, 저것과 is excluded from

these statements, then it will not be clear what is being

said. The verb 삼다 requires the construction name

+(으)로, the adjective 다르다 requires the

construction name+과.

The ability of the pronoun to be, along with the

subject, also the object is the primary syntactic

function of the name. For all other parts of speech, the

ability to be an object is a secondary syntactic

function.

3 CONCLUSION

Thus, the pronoun is defined as a lexico-grammatical

class of words, which includes words that indicate

objects, features, qualities, quantity, determined by

the situation, but do not name them. Therefore,

pronouns are sometimes called demonstrative or

deictic words, indicating, differentiating by referring

to persons and objects that are in one or another

relation to the speaker. In Korean, they correlate with

other parts of speech - with nouns, adjectives,

adverbs, numerals.

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Mazur's Grammar of the Korean language (2001)

Kholodovich's Brief essay on the grammar of the Korean

language (1964)

Ramstedt's Grammar of the Korean language (1951)

Park Young-soon (2001)

Hangil's modern Korean morphology (2006).

Lee Ik-seop's Korean Grammar Lecture (2001) from Seoul

National University.

Seo Jeong-su 's work Korean Grammar (1996) is

referenced, specifically pages 157 and 158.

Kim Phil's Modern grammar of the Korean language (2003)

Girutsky's Introduction to linguistics (2003)

Kim N.D.'s contributions to the understanding of sentence

structure in Korean.

Kobozeva's Linguistic semantics (2004)

Kobozeva's Practical grammar of the Korean language

(2000) from KOICA.

Go Young-geun's Gu Bongwan. Korean grammar theory

(2009)

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Kim Chang-seop's Korean morphology study (2008).

Noh Dae-gyu (1983), studies on specific linguistic aspects,

such as exclamation (exclamatory sentences) and

Sentence Semantics (sentence semantics),

Park Young-soon (2001), studies on specific linguistic

aspects, such as exclamation (exclamatory sentences)

and Sentence Semantics (sentence semantics),

Park Ki-deok's Korean Grammar (2003)

Seo Jeong-mok's study on the semantic function of

interrogative sentences in Korean (1987), contribute to

a comprehensive understanding of Korean linguistic

structures.

Seo Jeong-su work on question (interrogative sentences) –

Meaning of interrogative sentence (1990)

Seo Jeong-su work on Korean grammar lecture (2001).

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