The meaning of a Korean connective '-nuntey'

초록

The function of nuntey has been discussed by many linguists, such as H. Choy (1965), K. Lee (1980, 1993), Y. Kim (1981), H. Lee (1991), and Y. Park (1996, 1999). Nuntey has been analysed as a background builder, a contrastive marker, or a contrastive connective used in dispreferred responses. In this paper we aim to explore its core meaning that makes it possible to do those functions. We point out that nuntey-conjunctions are very similar to some of English and-conjunctions and but-conjunctions. Within the framework of relevance theory, we suggest that nuntey has a procedural meaning that the two conjuncts are to be processed separately in the inferential process for a cognitive effect. A procedural meaning does not contribute to the truth-conditional content, but only guides the hearer how to interpret the utterance. This procedural meaning enables us to explain why some nuntey-conjunctions are available, but the others are not.