From connective to final particle: Korean tunci “or” and cross-linguistic comparisons

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the Korean connective tunci “or” has developed into a sentence-final particle, which carries varied discourse functions, expressing a) suggestions, proposals, requests, and offers, b) threats and criticisms and c) free choice and indifference. Final tunci first emerged as a suggestion marker from its connective use and this function remains its primary function. Using 240 hours of Korean TV drama data, this study elucidates the emergence process of these discourse functions of final tunci, which has not yet been properly researched. This study also demonstrates that final tunci has reached an advanced stage of grammaticalization based on its high frequency of use and its prosodic feature of final lengthening.Building on previous studies on turn-final uses of English or and Swedish eller “or”, this study argues that in turn-final position, tunci, or, and eller share a core function: they can relax the preference organization in conversational interactions and allow the addressee to utter a dispreferred response more freely. This is a new “intersubjectified” function that the connectives do not have when they combine two conjuncts (Traugott 2014).