A Study on the Transitions of Polite Expressions in Chinese Language
본 연구는 통시적인 관점에서 현대중국어 공손표현의 변천 양상을 개괄하여 그 특징을 명시하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 3, 40년대부터 현재까지 시대별로 공손표현의 사용 양상을 조사하고 그 변화 과정을 분석한다. 인칭대명사 존칭, 친족에 대한 존칭(尊称)과 겸칭 (谦称), 노인에 대한 존칭, 서술성 경어와 겸양어가 작품 속에서 어떻게 사용되고 있으며, 또 시대에 따라 어떻게 변화해 가는지 그 특징과 차이점을 논의하였다. 공손한 표현은 시대적 변화에 민감하다. 그 시대에 맞지 않는 공손 언어는 사라지고, 새로운 시대에 맞는 공손한 표현이 사용된다. 경어와 겸양어의 사용은 약화되고, ‘사교성 인사말, 사양하는 표현’인 ‘客套语’ 가 일상적으로 사용되는 현대인의 공손표현이 되었다.
This study aims to examine the transitions of polite expressions in Chinese language since the time of ‘the May Fourth Movement’, which is regarded as the starting point of modern Chinese language, from a diachronic perspective. In order to study the polite expressions in modern Chinese language, this study classified the period for the modern Chinese language into the modern period (from the time of the May Fourth Movement to 1949) and the contemporary period (from 1949 to the present), compared and summarized the manners of polite expressions in Chinese language by period, and analyzed the differences and characteristics. The transitions of the polite expressions by period were analyzed. This study focused on identifying the differences in their usage patterns by period to analyze the literary works in the modern period and the contemporary period. The polite expressions in the contemporary period are used to raise the dignity of an educated person and improve human relations, unlike the past when there was a class society. So, today‘s polite expressions in Chinese language are mostly composed of expressions for social greetings, formal expressions for saving face, and expressions for courteous refusal, except for honorific vocabularies such as ‘nin (您)’ and ‘qing (请) and wei (位)’. These expressions are collectively referred to as ‘politeness formulas (客套语)’. Although the use of honorific or and humble language has been considerably reduced, ‘politeness formulas (客套语)’ have changed only in content and form, and they are still being actively used.