통사적 변화의 한 양상 - 경상도 방언의 " 겉다 " 구문의 경우 -

Abstract

In this article, the author tried to discuss the significance of the competing forms, that is, syntactic variants with the same meaning. Assuming that syntactic variants reflect the process of the language change, I tried to discuss this subject within Kyongsang-dialect, the southeast dialect of Korean Peninsula. In Kyongsang-dialect, there are two competing forms which mean `supposition`: `k◎ k◎tta` (=거겉다) and `Φ k◎tta` (=Φ 겉다). For the present, these forms are used with nearly the same frequency. By the full discussion, I concluded that the former is the earlier form. And the latter is developed from the former indirectly by the phonological factors, and directly by the syntactic factors. My emphasis is placed on the syntactic factors which enabled the formation of the competing forms. The factors are as follows: 1) The native speakers tend to think that `k◎ k◎tta` together means `supposition`, thus there exists the possibility of the shortening of the form to one word. 2) `k◎ k◎tta` is syntactically unique construction, that is, `bound noun+ adjective` construction. And it is somewhat of a burden to the grammatical system of Korean. Desirably, it should be changed to the more natural (general) form. 3) `k◎` of `k◎ k◎tta` has only syntactic role, and does not have lexical meaning. Though most of the bound nouns are not omitted, some of them can be omitted, provided that the synactic construction is not destroyed. The omission of `k◎` is one of that case. 4) By analogy to the existing form `kapta` (갑다) which means equally `supposition`, `Φ k◎tta` could be formed easily. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of the distribution, contrary to the `Φ k◎tta`, `kapta` is subject to certain constraints. Thus `k◎tta` is used more frequently. Finally, I can not tell which one of the competing forms will be a survival form, because not every competing forma lead to a language change.