우리말 ‘얼굴’의 의미 확장과 개념망

The purpose of this study is to examine how form and meaning extension of the human body term ‘얼굴’ in Korean is composed and how the direction of the meaning extension is realized on the assumption that various meanings of a word constitute a category. It is important how central meanings should be prescribed in meaning extension, which is frequently neglected in previous studies. Until the accurate prescription of central meanings is made, it has been impossible to understand how and which constituents of central meanings extend to marginal meanings. Also we cannot confirm that marginal meanings extend orderly and systematically though they look scattered in disorder. As a result, the semantic field of ‘얼굴’ makes it possible to establish a section of lexical system in the Korean language and the conception network of ‘얼굴’ to explain a section of the Korean national spirit.