정중 어법과 우리말 존대법 : 에스더기를 중심으로

Abstract

A translator for honorific languages should be aware of not only the honorific system of the target text but also of politeness strategies of the source text. Korean translators of the Bible therefore must recognize unique deferential system (addressee honorifics) of their own language as well as the politeness strategies of the Bible.BR The study of politeness has become a major topic of pragmatics and socio-linguistics. However the interest of politeness started not from linguistics but sociology. Politeness theories were developed, in the field of language, by scholars such as Brown and Gilman (1960), Lakoff (1967), Leech (1983), and Brown and Levinson (1987). They investigated politeness as an universal language phenomena.BR Research into politeness strategies has been done by Hebrew scholars such as Miller (1996) and Revell (1996). According to their studies, the question of social status should be a major consideration. Although the study of politeness strategies has been done in classical biblical Hebrew, very little work has focused exclusively on late biblical Hebrew in general, and the polite language of the scroll of Esther in particular.BR The scroll of Esther is a good sample text for the study of politeness since it has many dialogues between an authoritative Persian king and his servants. All characters of the scroll know how to use politeness strategies and deferential languages. Their polite languages show that they know their place in the court. A character who is subordinate in status must use polite and deferential language to persuade the king to act as they wish. For example, the use of the third person for polite distancing displays deference.BR The last part of this study reviews how four major Korean Bible translations - New Korean Revised Version (1998); Common Translation of the Holy Bible (1999); Revised New Korean Standard Version (2001); and The Bible (2005) - have dealt with addressee honorifics, and evaluated their choices from the perspective of politeness strategies of the scroll. NKRV (1998) adopted the archaic honorific system, and remained uninfluenced by rapid linguistic changes during the last century. RNKSV (2001) and The Bible (2005) did not follow archaic and informal style but rather adopted the modern and formal honorific system. The honorific system of CTHB (1999) is composed of both formal and informal forms.