노년층과 청년층의 방언 차이에 대한 연구 - 경북 영천 방언의 문법 형태를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper examines lexical forms in the Yeongcheon dialect and seeks to understand their different realisations according to age groups. In order to achieve this, this study compares and contrasts the grammatical elements used by elderly speakers with those used by younger speakers, and discusses in depth, whenever differences lie between the two groups, the reasons for such differences. Then, focusing on the younger group, the study investigates whether this group recognizes and uses dialectal lexical forms. The grammatical elements surveyed are as follows: particles, sentence endings, connective endings, tenses, negative terms. The investigation into the use of these items by speakers of older and younger generations in Yeongcheon has yielded five major results. 1. The elderly mainly use lexical forms of the traditional dialect. 2. Although younger speakers know these lexical forms, they only use 60% of them. 3. Younger speakers distinguish and use standard and dialectal lexical forms depending on the situation. For instance, they use dialect only when conversing with close friends, that is, the use of dialect can be perceived as an intimate speech marker. 4. The main reason why the use of dialectal forms among the younger generation is decreasing is not their ignorance of the dialect but rather the restrictions on its use. In other words, some conversational situations require the use of standard Korean, thereby limiting the opportunities to use dialectal forms. 5. As bidialectal speakers, the younger generation knows both standard and dialectal lexical forms and thus can strategically choose the appropriate form according to the situation they are facing.