Semantic Function of Non-Normative ‘-doeda, -shikida’

A proposition becomes a direct material of a sentence as it is placed in the context of a time-space situation and becomes a concrete utterance by expressing the speaker’s attitude toward the realization of the event and the utterance function toward the listener. In other words, a sentence is realized by attaching pragmatic elements to a proposition. The grammatical elements appearing in a sentence are event-forming factors the closer they are to the proposition, while the further they are from the proposition, the more they are contextual factors. Modal expressions that reveal the discourse participant’s judgment about the factuality of the proposition are located immediately before the sentence ending. In a declarative sentence, the speaker’s judgment regarding the realization of a proposition is expressed, while in an interrogative sentence, the hearer’s judgment is expressed. It can also be used as a polite expression by weakly expressing the will to realize it. Because the speaker’s strong expression of will to realize the situation is a burden to the listener, euphemisms related to politeness appear as expressions that weaken reality/ realism. By using performative verbs of judgment in sentences, objective assertions are avoided by showing the speaker thinking and judging. Politeness can be shown as a way to express subjectivity, and by using passive expressions, a method of revealing unintentionality can be added. The hedge expression created by combining these factors is a pragmatic modal expression, located at the back of the sentence. A passive affix sometimes changes into a modal element that performs a pragmatic function. In Korean, ‘N-shikida’ and ‘N-doeda’, whose use is now widespread but still considered non-normative, are used to emphasize the will or unwillingness of the subject, respectively. Of course, this determination of intentionality is made by the speaker. In addition, the active-causative relationships of ‘-hada’-‘-shikida’ and the active-passive relationships of ‘-hada’-‘-doeda’ are gradually degenerating, instead, the ‘unintentional-’ relationship of ‘-doeda’-‘-shikida’ is emerging. The semantic correspondence of ‘intention’ is used as a predicate in intransitive and transitive verb sentences. This loss of place for ‘-hada’ also shows the tendency for syntactic affixes with pragmatic meaning to overwhelm affixes with only grammatical functions.