The grammar of logical meaning and its implications for Korean <-> English translator training

This paper explores the grammar of logical meaning in Korean and English as realised through clause combination, informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and to apply the findings to translator training. The main idea of this paper forms part of an ongoing collaborative project on SFL-based Korean grammar, with the object of publishing a monograph with an envisaged readership that includes translation scholars and students, as well as language teachers [1]. This larger project undertakes to describe a grammar realising four modes of meaning. This paper examines one of these, the grammar that manifests logical meaning, on the basis of and by further developing the findings of my PhD thesis [2]. The paper analyses how clauses are combined in a clause complex that comprises two or more clauses, with the focus on ‘logico-semantic relations’ (e.g. elaboration, addition, cause and effect). With respect to translator training, comparisons are made between Korean clause combination and English clause combination, wherever possible, in an attempt to help inform clause combination-related translation decisions. The result of the analysis shows that, unlike English, Korean tends to realise elaboration and enhancement relations hypotactically, rather than paratactically.