정도부사 '너무'의 어형성과 공기 특성

Abstract

This paper is on the word formation and co-occurrence of Korean degree adverb ‘neomu(너무)’. Korean degree adverb ‘neomu’, which is different from other degree adverbs, has an obvious etymology and can make its derivative word by combining with subsidiary words: ‘na(나)’, ‘do(도)’, ‘nado(나도)’. It can easily be made into a compound word as a duplicated word and be made into a derivative word by combining with a suffix ‘-hada(하다)’. In case the adverb ‘neomu’ occurs frequently with a verb as another property on the restriction of co-occurrence, the meaning of the verb must contain a property of ‘degree’, and an unmarked adjective has to be emitted between ‘neomu’ and the verb. The meaning of ‘neomu’ includes that of ‘possession’ or ‘continuity’ in order to co-occur with ‘ittda(있다)’. It seems that for ‘neomu’ and noun + 이다 to co-occur, the meaning of the structure of ‘noun’ should have the structure of state/attribute + noun, and the ‘noun’ has a common characteristic of a word with predicativity and animality. In addition, the adverb ‘neomu’ as in ‘neomu’ + noun + 이다 implicates [-positive] meaning. The structure of 'neomu' + noun + 이다 can be possibly regarded as an adjective because it manifests more predicativity than nominality.