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as a Function of Social Relationships |
In the Korean language the way in which thoughts are expressed is a function of the social status of the speaker relative to the listener. Korean does not have some linguistic chararcteristics, such as gender, which are common to Indo-European languages, but it does honorifics which are largely non-existent in those languages. Here is an illustration of the way the form of expression is a function of relative social status. The thought to be expressed is X gave him. (The relationship A≥B means that A's social status is equal or greater than B's social status.)
| Speaker to Listener | Subject X to him | Speaker to Subject X | |
| > | > | > | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| > | > | < | ku-ege chu-si-ot-ta |
| > | < | > | ku-bun-kke turi-ot-ta |
| > | < | < | ku-bun-kke turi-si-ot-ta |
| < | > | > | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| < | > | < | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| < | < | > | ku-bun-kke turi-ot-ssumni-ta |
| < | < | < | ku-bun-kke turi-si-ot-ssumni-ta |
The relationship can just as well be expressed by the binary variable {1,0} such that ">" = 1 and "<" = 0. The function would then be:
| Speaker to Listener | Subject X to him | Speaker to Subject X | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | ku-ege chu-si-ot-ta |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ku-bun-kke turi-ot-ta |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | ku-bun-kke turi-si-ot-ta |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | ku-ege chu-ot-ta |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | ku-bun-kke turi-ot-ssumni-ta |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ku-bun-kke turi-si-ot-ssumni-ta |
The above function is expressed in lingustics in a different notation; i.e.,
| Nominative | Dative | Verb Phrase | Tense Marker | End Marker | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | honorific for subject | Object | honorific for object | honorific for subject |