한국어 교육에서의 어미(語尾)에 대한 영어설명 고찰

A Study on English Explanation for Verb ending in KFL Education

This is a study concerned with discussing the explanatory consistency and descriptive feasibility in KFL (Korean as a Foreign Language) education, particularly focusing on KFL textbooks whose grammar is explained in English. Korean language, as an agglunative language, is quite an unfamiliar language to the speakers of Indo-European languages including English. Therefore, most KFL textbooks depend on English to explain grammatical terms to the beginners of KFL. This paper studies the ways in which grammatical morphemes are explained in major KFL textbooks and discusses related problems. One of the problems is the lack of consistency in the usage of terms. For example, in the KFL textbook used by Yonsei University 종결어미 is described as sentence final ending, while 연결어미 as two categories of conjunctive ending and non-final ending. 전성어미 of noun form is described as nominal ending, 전성어미 of prenoun from as modifier ending, And 선어말어미 is described either as suffix or marker, without clear criteria. Ending is for those larger than 어미, but it seems more appropriate to treat it as expression item. In the KFL textbook used by Korea University, 종결어미 is described as sentence ending, while 연결어미 as conjunctive ending, connective ending, or 'suffix.' This inconsistency leads to confusion. 선어말어미 is described as infix and morpheme. The term 'infix' is not found in any Korean textbooks.