모국어의 심급들, 토대로서의 번역 - 유종호의 ‘토착어’와 백낙청의 ‘토속어’

Abstract

This study aims to study conscious practices to reorganize mother tongue and occurence of notions to call mother tongue in the late 1960s. This study suggests that change of cultural area to which Korea was connecting and change of translation-situation was a major condition of this phenomenon. It is a familliar appraisal that new sensibilities based on Korean was formed in the late 1960s by ‘Hangul generation’ who were used to mother tongue. However, this appraisal is a kind of myth, because it supposes transcendental being of the mother tongue. A concept of ‘mother tongue’ could only be imagined in relation with translation to other languages. And it was always imagined as an incomplete and a fluid concept. Thus, literary language based on mother tongue was also formed in the process of imaging, creating, reorganizing language. This study pay attention to a few concepts such as Yu Jong-ho’s ‘aboriginal language’ and Paik Nak-chung’s ‘local language’ which implied the degrees of mother tongue in the late 1960s. These concepts suggested the being of ‘pure’ mother tongue and directions of reorganizing mother tongue at once. And the occurence and differentiation of these concepts were based on consciosness about altered translation-situation after the liberation and counterstrategy of this situation. Yu Jong-ho’s criticism on aboriginal language started in the late 1950s. The transition of his perspective about aboriginal language showed re-establishing the concept of mother tongue. He had ambivalent viewpoint on aboriginal language in the initial stages. However, he changed his mind hencefoward and suggested aboriginal language could be more effective language of the reason than Sino-Korean words. Awareness of translation-situation which changed because of change of cultural area to which Korea was connecting placed behind this transition. In other words, he could assert superiority of aboriginal language because he thought not Japanese but English as an orginal language in changed translation-situation. Yu Jong-ho’s criticism on aboriginal language showed that the altered translation-situation was an important condition of reorganizing of mother tongue. Paik Nak-chung’s criticism on local language showed counterstrategy against altered translation-situation was an important element of differentiation of the concepts which called degrees of mother tongue. New sense of translation which discarded mediation of Japanese and Sino-Korean words and reach western Europe language as an original language created new perspective on possibilities of translation. Examination of possibilities of translation between mother tongue and universal language of modern science was an important way to estimate characteristics of modern Korean society and its literature. Paik accomplished these works sincerely. ‘Local language’ was magnified as an essential concept in this process, because it was imagined as a concept which has (im)possibility of translation to universal language and guarantees substantiality of equivalents to each original language. Thus, concepts which called degrees of mother tongue and literary language based on it altered translation-situation and were diffentiated by counterstrategy to this situation. Yu and Paik’s critism on mother tongue led to actual reorganzing of literary language based on mother tongue in the late 1960s. Intentional collection and utilization of specific sections in mother tongue such as dialect, slang, argot, archaic words were important methods to reorganize mother tongue in late 1960s. However these practices did not intend to restore existence which these languages instruct, but intended to reconsturuct equivalents to universal concepts which modern west European science suggested in new translation-situation. Thus, ‘archiving of languages’ is a useful concept to explain reorganization of literary language in the late 1960s.