The Sentence-Ending Suffix -Ketun in Korean Conversation with Reference to -Nuntey: Sequence Organization and Management of Epistemic Rights

Abstract

From a conversation-analytic perspective (Sacks et al. 1974), this paper reports on the sequential analysis of the Korean sentence-ending suffix -ketun in spontaneous conversation conducted in comparison with -nuntey. The recurrent sequence-organizational pattern in which -ketun is deployed pre-positionally (i.e., as the first pair part in pre-sequence) or within a multi-unit turn as a parenthetical insert is analyzed as being motivated by the practice of mitigating the strong epistemic claim made by the speaker of -ketun. In such positions, the speaker's claim of his/her epistemic rights indexed by -ketun is managed sequentially by way of requiring the recipient's attention only in passing. These positions contrast with the position where the ketun-utterance is used as the second pair part; it requires the full attention of the interlocutor (i.e., the speaker of the first pair part), which accounts for why the use of -ketun in the second position tends to be perceived as impolite. The sequential pattern where -ketun is embedded often contains a nuntey-utterance, which, sometimes prefaced by a discourse marker such as ku(le)ntey but or kulaykaciko so, contributes to linking the preceding segment of talk initiated by -ketun forward to the projected main telling. This sequential position associated with -nuntey attests to what may be called the de-pressurizing role that it plays; -nuntey serves as a resource for orienting the recipient forward away from the domain where the speaker's epistemic authority is asserted with -ketun. The implications of the findings for the comparison of -ketun and -nuntey are further discussed in relation to the practice of self-repair by which one form is replaced by another. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed with regard to the need to develop grammar more reflective of the features of authentic language in terms of sequential structures and actions.