Korean-English Differences of Communicative Preferences with Focus on the Subject Position

Abstract

Korean-English Differences of Communicative Preferences with Focus on the Subject PositionKim, Youngshin(Keimyung University)The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the differences of communicative preferences between Korean and English, especially with regard to the subject. In order to talk about such differences, we draw on the concept of thematic roles such as AGENT, THEME/PATIENT, INSTRUMENT and LOCATION from sentence semantics. One of the important findings with regard to thematic roles is that the preference pattern for the subject position varies with different languages. Such a finding serves as an important starting point from which to pursue the present study.First, with the translation of English into Korean, this study has demonstrated that non-animate ACTOR subjects are demoted to something other than subjects, usually denoting the cause of the event. At the same time, personal pronouns such as 'I', 'We', and 'You' aimed at creating personal involvement between the author and readers are generally omitted in the Korean translations. We argue that such a shift is aimed at enhancing naturalness and readability of the Korean TTs. Second, in regard to translation of Korean into English. we have found the opposite phenomenon in which the noun in the adverbial phrases is promoted into the subject position. Such a promotion of Non-ACTORs into the subject position presents a striking contrast to the demotion of Actors in the translation of English into Korean.Seeking to incorporate such findings into the translator training, the present paper suggests that the teacher should inform students of such differences and encourage them to seek various way to convey the given meaning.