준구어 말뭉치에 나타난 일인칭 복수 대명사 ‘우리’의 화용적 기능과 실현 양상 연구

A Study on the Pragmatic Function and Implementation of the First-Person Plural Pronoun ‘Uri’ in a Semi-Spoken Language Corpus

This study examines the semantic functions of first-person plural pronoun ‘Uri’ from a pragmatic perspective and investigates its usage patterns ‘Uri’ in a semi-spoken language corpus. This study determined the following points. First, the pragmatic function of ‘Uri’ involves adjusting the psychological and physical distance between conversation participants. The function of ‘narrowing the psychological distance’ is evident in plural usage of ‘we inclusive of addressee’ and the formulaic usage, while ‘widening the psychological distance’ occurs in plural usage of ‘we exclusive of addressee’, showing the speaker’s exclusive attitude toward the listener. Lastly, ‘physical distancing’ is observed in singular usage, where potential loss of face for the target is minimized by expressing the singular subject in plural form. Second, ‘Uri’ is more prominently employed to represent changes in the relationship between conversation participants by adjusting the psychological distance, rather than solely to prevent loss of face. Moreover, narrowing the psychological distance is actively used to increase intimacy between the speaker and the object modified by ‘Uri’. This study is significant as it examines the semantic functions of the first-person plural pronoun ‘Uri’ from a pragmatic perspective and investigates its usage patterns in a semi-spoken language corpus.