The pronouns wuli ‘we' and nam ‘other(s)' in Korean: A sociocultural and pragmatic approach

Abstract

Wuli ‘we’ and nam ‘other(s)' are two pronouns that reveal interesting sociocultural and pragmatic phenomena unique to Korean, and not found in other languages. Grammatically, wuli is known as the first-person plural pronoun, and nam functions as an indefinite pronoun. This paper provides a sociocultural and pragmatic account of how Koreans use and interpret these two pronouns in communication. Socioculturally, Korea is a highly collectivistic society. Wuli is used to refer to an in-group to which the speaker belongs, whereas nam denotes the out-group. By using these pronouns, the speakers can express and reinforce solidarity with their in-group members by distinguishing the in-group from the corresponding out-group. Pragmatically, the use of wuli can vary depending on context. It may refer not only to a group that includes the speaker but also to the speaker alone, as in wuli nampyen ‘my husband'. Similarly, nam can refer to the speaker, the listener, or a third party, depending on the context. We describe how speakers draw on the sociocultural meanings of these pronouns to perform these unique functions.