관용표현 구성요소의 다의성 - ‘눈’ 관용표현을 중심으로 -

Abstract

It is a general opinion that the meanings of the idioms cannot be inferred by the composition of the literal meanings of the constituent elements. Non-compositionality or opacity of the meaning is considered as the important characteristic of the idioms. Nonetheless, quite a few cases are found in which the meanings are formed by composition of the literal meaning of the constituent elements. In order to illuminate these, careful consideration was given to the ‘eye’ idioms. In the first place, the polysemy of the ‘eye’ were analyzed and organized again on the basis of the established dictionary. Then ‘eye’ idioms, which are the combined constructions of precedent and following elements, forming the construction of ‘눈{에/을/이} + V’ were assorted according to the transferred aspect of the meaning used for the constituent elements. The type combining basic meaning with basic meaning is called [X+Y],transferred meaning with basic meaning, [X+Y’], and transferred meaning with transferred meaning, [X’+Y’]. It is called [Z] type if the meaning can not be inferred by the combination of primary and transferred meaning. The result of the analysis showed that the formation of the ‘eye’ idioms were greatly influenced by the function of the three meanings, ‘gaze’ ‘attention’‘judgement’ among the polysemy of ‘eye’. It was also revealed that [X+Y]type accounted for 6.2%, [X+Y’] 4.9%, [X’+Y]11.1%, and [X’+Y’] about 11.1% respectively. About 33% of the whole ‘eye’idioms are composed of the combination of polysemy of the constituent elements. These show that there exists a close relationship between the idiomatic expressions and the constituent elements. Further studies are required on the semantic relationship between idiom and polysemy.