From an adverb to a discourse marker: A study of tto in Korean

Abstract

This dissertation explores the evolution of the Korean adverb tto as a discourse marker from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives. Under the classification systems of Korean adverbs, tto has been traditionally viewed as (a) a component adverb that modifies a single element of a sentence or (b) a sentence adverb that modifies an entire sentence. Semantically, tto carries the meaning of ‘again’ as a component adverb and the meaning of ‘also’ as a sentence adverb. From the diachronic perspective, this study examines the evolutionary pathways of tto based on the principles of grammaticalization using Old and early Late Middle Korean data. The analysis focuses on the historical traces of tto in earlier periods, its relationship with the delimiter to, and its etymology and grammaticalization process. From the synchronic perspective, the study investigates the interactional uses of tto using naturally occurring spontaneous data from telephone conversation and media talk. The analysis centers on tto’s semantic bleaching and discourse-pragmatic functions in talk-in-interaction, adopting an interactional linguistic (IL) analytic framework. The results show that tto is used as a linguistic device to strengthen a speaker’s claim and highlight his/her attitude toward the utterance. In sum, the study demonstrates the diachronic development and synchronic functions of tto and discusses the evolution of tto from an adverb to a discourse marker.