From ‘one morning’ to a discourse marker: The case of iltan in Korean

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Abstract

The goal of the paper is to identify the developmental pathways of iltan shaped by language contact with China. The study explores how the Sino-Korean term iltan evolved from a temporal noun into a discourse marker with distinctive functions. The study uses the perspectives of grammaticalization and pragmatics and employs historical and contemporary Korean corpora. Iltan originally meant ‘one morning’ and was used as a temporal noun in Late Middle Korean. However, its original meaning and noun status only persisted in Early Modern Korean until the 18th century. Its meaning ‘one morning’ was taken over by another Sino-Korean word, ilco , and purely Korean terms halwu achim and enu nal , which are all attested in the 15th century. As iltan shifted from a noun to an adverb, a connective, and a discourse marker, it acquired new meanings and functions associated with priority, short duration, and conditionality in Early Modern Korean. In Present-Day Korean, iltan is strategically used for multiple purposes, such as presenting topics and sub-topics, establishing common ground, filling pauses, indicating hesitation, and creating interruptions, thereby exerting its scope over a larger portion of the conversation. This transformation of iltan illustrates processes such as grammaticalization, discourse grammar, cooptation, (inter)subjectification, peripheral asymmetry, and source characteristics in comparison with the Chinese equivalent yīdàn . The findings provide insights into the Source Determination Hypothesis and its pragmatic implications.

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  1. Introduction

Korea has maintained long-standing interaction with China, mainly for geopolitical and cultural reasons, which has resulted in a significant portion of Korean vocabulary being derived from Chinese sources (Narrog & Rhee 2013, Lee 2021, Rhee 2021). The Sino-Korean term, iltan (一旦), composed of il (一) meaning ‘one’ and tan (旦) meaning ‘morning,’ has experienced noteworthy semantic and functional transformations. It was first recorded in the 15th century with the  meaning ‘one morning’ or ‘in the morning of one day.’ Over time, the lexeme iltan has changed both semantically and functionally, with its original meaning of ‘one morning’ becoming obsolete in modern Korean. Instead, it has evolved into an adverb that can mean ‘first of all’, ‘for a while,’ or serve as a conditional connective such as ‘once,’ or ‘in case.’ Its later meanings have enabled it to function as a discourse marker (DM) with multiple roles in contemporary Korean. Despite the intriguing nature of these shifts, the lexeme has rarely been studied to date, and this research aims to address that gap using data from historical and con­temporary corpora.

The goal of the paper is to identify the developmental pathways of iltan shaped by language contact with China. To achieve this, the paper has three main objectives: (i) to explore the diachronic development of iltan along with its semantic and functional extensions; (ii) to compare its source characteristics with the Chinese lexeme yīdàn induced by language contact; and (iii) to analyze the various functions of iltan as a DM in Present-Day Korean (PDK), focusing on the mechanisms of cooptation, (inter)subjectification and peripheral positionality.

To meet these research goals, the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 gives a theoretical background; Section 3 describes the corpus data and methodology; Section 4 accounts for the diachronic development of iltan; Section 5 presents its theoretical approach to iltan; Section 6 concludes with a summary of the findings.

Korean is classified as a head-final (SOV) language with its agglutinative morphological structure. In everyday conversation, subjects and objects are often dropped when context provides enough information for understanding. Verbs placed at the end of sentences are marked with a variety of morphological indicators reflecting TAM, epistemicity, honorifics, and evidentiality, etc. In terms of orthography, Korean employs a system of inter-lexical spacing, meaning that a word with its morphological elements is separated from another with a white space.

  1. Theoretical background

The theoretical framework of this paper includes (i) discourse grammar and (ii) peripheral asymmetry hypothesis. In (i), Heine et al.’s (2017, 2021) dual-level discourse grammar distinguishes between sentence grammar, which organizes propositional concepts, clauses, and their combinations, and thetical grammar, which deals with theticals1—discourse units with metatextual functions directly anchored in the discourse context (Heine et al. 2021: 72). Cooptation is a short phase when the expression concerned is transferred from the sentence level to the metatextual level of discourse (Heine et al. 2021: 76).

The emergence of DMs can be explained through the interplay of cooptation and grammaticalization in discourse grammar. The grammaticalization of DMs is categorized into two phases: ‘early grammaticalizationʼ which occurs before cooptation, and ‘late grammaticalization,’ which takes place after cooptation. Early grammaticalization typically involves a transition from lexical to grammatical forms. Late grammaticalization involves the gradual grammaticalization of the coopted unit (with DMs primarily being a subgroup of formulaic theticals2) after cooptation; by this phase, the coopted unit has evolved into a DM with a broader range of metatextual functions.

Several scholars, including Beeching & Detges (2014), Traugott (2014a & 2014b), Sohn (2014), Rhee (2016, 2020b, & 2021), and Lee (2021), have
examined (ii) the roles of the left-periphery (LP) and right-periphery (RP) in DMs. A common hypothesis among researchers is that LP functions are related to ‘dialogual’ and subjective roles, while RP functions are connected to ‘dialogic’ and intersubjective roles.3

Based on the approaches of discourse grammar and peripheral positionality, this study aims to elucidate the phases of iltan’s grammaticalization, cooptation, and pragmaticalization, classifying its subjective and intersubjective functions as a discourse marker. Insights from discourse grammar and peripheral positionality offer theoretical implications for how iltan, as a borrowed term, has evolved uniquely from its original form.

  1. Corpus data and methods

The Korean corpora used in this study include: (i) The historical corpus, consisting of 15-million-word texts, provides diachronic data from the historical section of the 21st Century Sejong Project (1998–2006). The texts in the historical section date from 1446 through 1913. (ii) The Drama and Movie Corpus, a contemporary collection of 24 million-words comprising 7,454 scripts from dramas and movies produced between 1992 and 2015, compiled by Min Li from Seoul National University. For data retrieval, a concordance software UNICONC, developed by Jinho Park, was utilized.4

The Korean alphabet Hankul iltan and the Chinese character 一旦 are identified in historical sources, with attestations retrieved through concordance searches using UNICONC. This software is also employed to gather concordance data from the Drama and Movie Corpus. Each concordance hit is reviewed individually to confirm relevance, excluding homonyms and unrelated lexemes.

  1. Analysis and results: semantic and functional shift of iltan

This section deals with diachronic changes of iltan in terms of semantic and functional extensions. This section also deals with diverse functions of iltan as a DM. Transliteration follows the Extended Yale System (Rhee 1996). Additionally, periphrastic forms are denoted with a period to signify word boundaries. When multiple English words in the gloss represent a single morpheme in the examples, they are separated by periods. In accordance with the general convention in Korean historical linguistics, any Chinese characters from the source texts are presented in uppercase letters using Modern Korean pronunciation.

4.1. Iltan in Late Middle Korean

The word iltan is made up of il (一), meaning ‘one,’ and tan (旦), meaning ‘morning,’ originally forming a noun. The term iltan was initially recorded in 1496 in Late Middle Korean (LMK)5, as shown in example (1). Iltanay, composed of the noun iltan with the locative postposition -ay, is placed in a non-argument position, where it functions as an adverb meaning ‘one morning’ or ‘in the morning
of one day.’

(1) 南遯十餘年이리시니                                  一旦-

NAM-TWUN-SIP-YE-NYEN-ili-si-ni                 ILTAN-ay

south-hide-ten-more.than-year-be-hon-cau    one.morning-loc

以非風幡動之機로                    觸-開-印宗-正眼-ᄒᆞ시니

I-PI-PHWUNG-PEN-TONG-CI-KI-lo          CHOK-KAY-INCONG-CENG-AN-hA-si-ni

with-neg-wind-flag-move-of-occasion-inst  touch-open-[name]-true-eye-do-hon-conn

‘When it was for more than 10 years since (the Master Hyenung) was hiding in the south, then one morning, he (helped the monk Injong) open his true eyes with a (profound) understanding that the flag did not wave in the wind, and...’

(1496, Yukcotankyeng Preface 1b3-5)

Example (1) is taken from a 15th century text, Yukcotankyeng, which is a collection of sermons by a Buddhist master of the Tang Dynasty, Yukcohyeynung (639–713). They were recorded by his pupil Hathayksinhoy. Example (1) describes the event that occurred to the Buddhist master one morning: not a single flag waved in the wind. The adverb iltanay in (1) designates ‘one morning’ with an indefinite reference to ‘one (一).’

Another attestation in LMK is dated to 1569, titled Senkakwikam as exemplified in (2). Senkakwikam was written by Chenghe Hyuceng, a great Buddhist monk of the Joseon Dynasty.

(2)   古一道人이 一旦 定中에 보니 一孝子ㅣ 주검을 소내 바다와 울며 닐오

KO-IL-TOIN-i                  ILTAN             CENGC-WUNG-ey                       po-ni

old.days-one-Taoist-nom  one morning    meditation-in.the.middle.of-loc    see-cau

IL-HYOCA-i                cwukem-ul          son-ay         patao-a

one-filial.child-nom   dead.body-acc   hand-loc     hold.up.and.come-conn

wul-mye        nil-otAy

cry-conn       say-conn

‘While practicing a meditation one morning, an old Taoist ascetic witnessed a filial child holding up a (his mother’s) dead body and saying…’

(1569, Senkakwikam #82)

Example (2) is a story about an ascetic Taoist. It depicts what happened to him one morning: an old Taoist ascetic witnessed a child crying with a dead body in hands. In comparison to the 15th century example (1), iltan can function as an adverb without the locative postposition -ay, meaning ‘one morning’ in the 16th century. In LMK, iltan changed its grammatical status from a noun to an adverb through zero-derivation, serving as an indefinite time marker meaning ‘one morning.’ This usage is primarily found in Buddhist scriptures, as illustrated in examples (1) and (2).

4.2. Iltan in Early Modern Korean

Significant linguistic developments involving iltan occurred in the 18th century in Early Modern Korean (EMoK). At first, the meaning of ‘one morning’ and its classification as a noun continued until the 18th century, co-existing with the adverb iltan, as illustrated in (3).

(3)   一旦之決이 과급(過急)믈 다라

ILTAN-CI-KYEL-i                     KWAKUP-hA-m-ul               skAytal-a

one morning-of-decision-nom   impatience-do-nomz-acc     realize-conn

‘(He) realized that the decision made one morning was hasty.’

(17??, Wanwelhoymayngyen #18240)6

In example (3), iltanci, formed from the noun iltan and the postposition -ci ‘of’, acts as a modifier for the noun keyl. Iltancikeyl translates to ‘decision of one morning,’ which can also be paraphrased as ‘the decision made one morning.’ The excerpt in (3) suggests a sense of regret for making a decision quickly, without taking enough time to reflect on it.

Second, iltan, combined with connectors in the 18th century, evolved from being purely lexical in LMK to being used in textual contexts in EMoK. Example (4) illustrates the combined meanings of iltan ‘one morning’ with a conditional connective -myen. This context serves as a bridging context (Heine 2002) or a critical context (Diewald 2002), where pragmatic ambiguity leads to grammaticalization of iltan from an adverbial to a conditional connective.

(4)   而一旦豁然貫通焉면

I-ILTAN-HWALYEN-KWANTHONG-EN-hA-myen

conn-one.morning-definitely-be.spiritually.awakened-conn-do-if

(a) ‘and if (you) are definitely awakened one morning…,’ (b) ‘and if (you) are definitely awakened one day…,’ (c) ‘and once (you) are definitely awakened…’

(1749, Tayhakyulkokenhay #24)

In (4) iltan is ambiguous in its meaning and function when combined with the conditional connective -myen. In EMoK, it is notable that the term iltan, originally meaning ‘one morning’ or ‘one day’ through semantic extension. Here, the indefinite meaning of il (‘one’) in iltan becomes salient, while the meaning of tan (‘morning’) recedes. Combined with the conditional connective -myen ‘if,’ iltan…myen developed into a conditional connective meaning ‘once’ or ‘in case.’ The developmental path of combined meanings and functions of iltan and -myen is depicted in (5). Generalization (Bybee et al. 1994) operates on the semantic extension between ‘one morning’ in (5a) and ‘one day’ in (5b) Ultimately, the meaning of time becomes opaque, leading to a conditional connection expressed by phrases like ‘once’ or ‘in case’ in (5c).

(5) a. if…one morning (temporality): ‘if (you) are definitely awakened one morning…’
      b. if…one day (temporality): ‘if (you) are definitely awakened one day…’
      c. once / in case (conditionality): ‘in case (you) are definitely awakened…’

Therefore, the meaning of iltan extended from ‘one morning’ (temporality) to ‘once’ or ‘in case’ (condition).7 In EMoK iltan is grammaticalized from a time-designating adverb to a conditional connective.

Third, the Hankul (Korean alphabet) version of iltan is recorded during this period, as demonstrated in example (6). Fourth, the new meanings ‘for a while’ and ‘first of all’ for the adverb iltan emerged in the 18th century. Example (6) is taken from Meynguylok in the 18th century. The adverb iltan means ‘for a moment,’ ‘for the present,’ ‘for now,’ or ‘for a while,’ indicating brevity in time.

(6)   후겸과 닌한이 비록 스로 규각이 이시나 일단 날을 원망 은 두 역적이  심쟝인

Hwukyem-kwa    Ninhan-i         pilok         susAlo           kyukak-i              isi-na

[name]-and        [name]-nom   although   themselves     discord-nom       exist-but  

iltan                   na-lul       wenmanghA-nAn                  mAAm-un   twu   yekcek-i

for.a.moment     I-acc        fear.a.grudge.against-adn     mind-top    two   traitor-nom

hAn    simcyang-i-n

one      heart-be-adn

‘Although (the two traitors,) Hwukyem and Ninhan, are themselves in discord, they are of one mind in bearing a grudge against me for now,…’

(1777, Meynguylok #282)

In the textual context of example (6), the adversative connective -na ‘but’ shows the contrast between the dissonance of the two traitors, Hwukyem and Ninhan and their shared position in ‘resenting me.’ The adverb iltan, combined with -na ‘but,’ also highlights a temporal contrast. Their dissonance on matters ‘always’ happened while their consonance in resenting me occurred ‘for now.’

Fifth, in example (7) iltan means ‘first of all,’ indicating prioritization as an example of a bridging context (Heine 2002) between an adverb and a DM.

(7)   친며 아니믈 의논치 말고 다 이 일단 의심고 두려오믈 품어시니

 chinhA-mye    ani-m-ul             uynon-chi               mal-ko            ta    i   

close-conn    not-nomz-acc  discuss-do.comp    stop-conn       all   this 

iltan               uysimhA-ko        twulyeom-ul           phwum-es-ini

first.of.all       doubt-conn       fear-acc                bear-pst-cau

‘First of all, they suspect who (they talk to), whether they are close or not, and have fear, so…’

(1782, Yucwungoytaysosinseyunum #25)

Iltan can modify the verb uysimha ‘doubt’ and twulyeomul phwum ‘fear’ as an adverb. It highlights the contrast in priority between chinhAmey animul uynon- ‘figuring out if (s/he) is close or not’ and uysimhAko twulyeomul phwum- ‘doubting and fearing things.’ Iltan also functions as a DM, representing speaker’s evaluative stance by balancing ‘figuring out if (s/he) is close or not’ with ‘doubting and fearing things.’ Iltan emphasizes the speaker’s priority of on the latter over the former, extending its scope over the discourse.

The last notable point in EMoK is that the form iltanun (iltan + -un), which includes the topic marker -un, was used. However, the frequency of iltanun in the Historical Corpus is quite low, with only 14 hits, compared to 469 hits for iltan. Therefore, its usage was not common. Example (8) is excerpted from Coyachemcay, a record of historical events from 1392 (the 1st year of King Thayco’s reign) to 1710 (the 36th year of King Swukcong’s reign). Coyachemcay is believed to have been written during the era of King Swukcong (1661–1720), so it may have been composed in the early 18th century.8

(8)   홍이(弘禹) 유협다 말이 잇온즉 이 일단은 맛당이 실 로소이다

hongi-lAl         yuhyephA-ta-nAn     mal-i           is-sAo-ncuk

[name]-acc     threat-rept-adn      word-nom  exist-hon-conn

i       iltan-un            mastangi     sAsilhA-l                pA-i-losoita

this  first.of.all-top  justifiably    investigate-adn    nmlz-be-end

‘The word that Hongi is being threatening is circulating. First of all, we must conduct a justified investigation into it.’

(17??, Coyachemcay #12009)

In example (8), iltanun indicates a ‘primary’ evaluation of the speaker’s comments regarding the investigation of the rumor that ‘Hongi is being threatening,’ suggesting that conducting an investigation into the matter is justified. Therefore, it serves as a DM, representing the speaker’s evaluative stance.

In the 18th century during the EMoK period, the term iltan began to transition from a lexical term in LMK to its use in textual contexts. It was often seen with connectives such as iltan -hamyen meaning ‘if…one morning’ in example (4), -na iltan meaning ‘but…for a moment’ in example (6), and -ko iltan which translates to ‘and…first of all’ in example (7). The written form iltan in Hankul started to become more widely used during this time. Additionally, a variant form, iltanun, also began to be disseminated in the EMoK period. The DM functions that developed from iltan stemmed from its connotation of ‘priority,’ as demonstrated in examples (7) and (8).

4.3. Iltan in Modern Korean

The semantic designation ‘one morning’ or ‘in the morning one day’ of iltan was obsolete in Modern Korean (MoK). However, the extended meanings of iltan from the 18th century are confirmed in use in MoK: (i) priority (ii) brief temporality (iii) conditionality.

Let us look at the examples, which show the three meanings around the turn of the 20th century from the historical corpus. Example (9) is taken from Moktanhwa, which is classified as a Sinsosel.9

(9)   형셰를 보는 것이 안이요 가품도 보는 것이 안이요 일단 신랑 아만 보고

 hyengsyey-lul    po-nun      kes-i            an-i-yo         kaphwum-to                po-nun

condition-acc   see-adn     thing-nom   not-be-pol  family.tradition-also   see-adn

kes-i                  an-i-yo        iltan           sinlang        hAna-man        po-ko

thing-nom        not-be-pol  first.of.all   groom         one-only          see-conn

‘(The official Lee is looking for a marriage partner for his daughter Cengswuk.) He does not consider the groom’s circumstances or family traditions. First of all, he considers a groom alone…’

(1911, Moktanhwa #204)

In example (9), the speaker discusses the government official Lee’s priority in selecting a marriage partner for his daughter Cengswuk. He emphasizes the groom candidate himself (sinlang hAnaman po- ‘considering a groom alone’) over factors such as the candidate’s economic and social status or the family’s reputation and traditions (hyengsyey, kaphwumto ponun kesi aniyo ‘not considering the groom’s circumstances or family traditions’). In this context, iltan functions as a DM, reflecting the speaker’s evaluative stance on the official Lee’s criteria for choosing a groom for Cengswuk.

Example (10) is taken from Twukyenseng, which is also classified as a Sinsosel. Iltan in expert (10) means ‘for a while.’

(10) 혜경의 요됴 셩품과 결 긔질이   에 합당다 야 일단 졍신이 곳 그 규슈에 잇스나

hyeykyeng-uy  yotyohAn   syengphwum-kwa   kAykyelhAn   kuycil-i

name-gen       elegant       personality-and      upstanding     temperament-nom

skok     nAy   mAAm-ey   haptanghAta   hA-ya    iltan             cyengsin-i

surely  my    heart-loc   fit                   do-cau   for.a.while   mind-nom

kos     ku    kyusyu-ey   issu-na

right  the   lady-loc     exist-but

‘(Mr. Wang) has had Hyeykyeng in mind for a while because he likes her elegant personality and upstanding temperament, which are congenial with him, but...’

(1912, Twukyenseng #218)

In example (10), Mr. Wang has been considering Hyeykyeng ‘for a while’ because he feels her personality and temperament align well with his own. However, he finds her situation too complicated to accept. The use of iltan combined with the adversative conjunction -na in (10) highlights his ongoing interest in her ‘for a moment’ against his awareness of her ‘enduring’ circumstances.

Example (11),10 taken from Tayhanmayilsinpo, shows iltan…meyn meaning ‘once’ or ‘in case’

(11) 일단국혼이 완젼불멸 돌연히 일죠에 긔이 샹통야 부강국이 되리로다

iltan.kwukhon-i                 wancyenpwulmyel-hAmyen   tolyenhi    ilcyo-ey

once.national.spilit-nom   total.immortal-do.cond          suddenly   one.day-loc

kuymAyk-i                                syangthonghA-ya         pwukangkwuk-i       

the.wavelength(thread)-nom   communicate-conn      rich.strong.nation-nom 

toy-l-ilota

become-fut-end

‘In case the national spirit is totally immortal, the thread will suddenly run through one day, and the nation will become rich and strong.’

(1904, Tayhanmayilsinpo #18714)

The structure in (11) suggests that if the national spirit is vibrant, the nation can achieve wealth and strength when the spirit unexpectedly unites one day. In this instance, ilcyo, not iltan, signifies ‘one morning’ or ‘one day.’ When iltan is combined with the conditional connective -myen, it does not imply temporality. Instead, in this context, iltan with -myen indicates the conditional ‘once’ or ‘in case.’ It is significant that the combination of iltan and -myen firmly establishes itself as a conditional form in MoK.

Phyocwun Kwuke Taysacen (A Complete Standard Korean dictionary) by the National Institute of the Korean Language also presents the three meanings in PDK: (i) ‘first of all’ (ii) ‘for a while,’ ‘for now’ (iii) ‘once,’ ‘in case.’ The examples in (12), taken from Phyocwun Kwuke Taysacen, illustrate three meanings of iltan respectively.

(12) a.  iltan           ku    kos-ey        ka  po-ca

first.of.all  the   place-loc  go  see-hort

‘First of all, let’s go there.’

b. iltan         cali-lul       phiha-sio

for.a.while   place-acc   avoid-hon.imp

‘Please, leave the place for a while.’

с. aphu-myen  iltan       peyngwen-pwuthe    ka-la

sick-if          in.case   hospital-from           go-imp

‘In case you are sick, please see a doctor.’

In example (12a) iltan signifies ‘first of all,’ that is, priority is put on ‘going there.’ In example (12b), iltan means ‘for a while,’ indicating that leaving the place is going to continue ‘for a short period.’ In example (12c), the combination of the conditional connective -myen and iltan designates ‘once’ or ‘in case,’ that is, aphumyen iltan ‘in case you are sick’ assumes a hypothetical situation. The extended meanings of realis, irrealis, and necessary/sufficient conditions are derived from the conditional -myen ‘if,’ which are not illustrated in detail in this article.

4.4. Iltan as a Discourse Marker

Iltan developed into diverse discursive functions as a DM in the late of the 18th century within EMoK. The DM iltan diversifies its meanings and functions in discourse in PDK. The DM iltan exhibits the characteristics typically associated with DMs: they are semantically and syntactically independent from their surrounding context, are prosodically distinct from the rest of the utterance, and serve a metatextual function that is anchored in the discourse situation, facilitating text organization, expressing the speaker’s attitudes, and/or enhancing speaker-hearer interaction, following the definitions of DMs by Brinton (1995), Schourup (1999), Andersen (2001), González (2004), and Furkó (2014), among others (cited in Heine et al. 2021: 6).

The multifarious discursive meanings and functions of iltan are both subjective and intersubjective. In the examples, lines that do not require morphemic glosses are given in English translation within square brackets, and supplementary information not present in the original text but helpful for understanding the meaning is included in parentheses in the translation.

4.4.1. Topic presenter

First, let us examine the example of iltan functioning as a topic presenter at MED (an utterance-medial position). In excerpt (13), C has been diagnosed with a terminal-stage of pancreatic cancer. C and his wife, J, are sitting in front of the desk of D, a chief doctor of the medical center. Mr. Pwu, a friend of C and J, is with them. D is examining his sonogram, clicking on the computer. J is hoping that D will offer some hope for cancer treatment. Finally, D turns toward C and J, moving away from his computer.

(13)   D: [(Investigating a medical chart without a word)]

J: [(Waiting for the doctor to say something)]

D: (Not casting a glance at her) 부선생 말대로, 일단 항암치료를 하시는 게,

    Pwu sensayng   mal-taylo iltan  hangam chilyo-lul             ha-si-nun        ke-y

    [name] teacher  word-as   dm     anticancer treatment-acc do-hon-adn  thing-nom

    ‘As Mr. Pwu said, let’s see, why don’t we try anticancer treatment…’

J: [Can he recover completely with anticancer treatment alone? Just, surgery is quicker and cleaner, isn’t it? (It is likely that she is out of her mind.)]

(2005, Drama 90il Salanghal Sikan [90 days, the time to love] Episode #04)

In (13) D attempts to speak first after a period of silence. J is waiting for D to say something hopeful about her husband C’s medical therapy. As a DM, iltan at MED serves as a topic presenter, breaking the silence and paving the way to address the specific topic of ‘C’s anticancer treatment.’ Therefore, iltan in (13) is a micro-scope topic presenter rather than a macro-scope or medial-scope topic presenter because it introduces a very local level discourse topic, such as kukey mwe-nyamyen (that-thing-nom what-hyp.cond, ‘speaking of what’) and kukey nwukwu-nyamyen (that-thing-nom who-hyp.cond, ‘speaking of who’) (Rhee 2014: 5).

4.4.2. Subtopic shifter

The next example (14) illustrates a subtopic shift expressed by iltan at MED. M, a student majoring in electrical engineering at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), visits Y’s factory to inspect the spindle motor. The situation involves testing it for a company that is considering investing in it.

(14)   M: [(Smiling)… If it goes well, will production start in earnest?]

Y: 그야 좋은 결과가 나올 때 얘기지. 그래서 일단 모터라도 손봐야할거 같아서. 그래서 학생을 불렀어. 도와줄 수 있겠지?

ku-ya      cohun kyelkwa-ka   nao-1-ttay                    yayki-ci    kulayse  

it-cond  good  result-nom    come.out-adn-when   talk-sfp     therefore  

iltan   mothe-lato     sonpo-aya          ha-1-ke             katha-se.     

dm     motor-conc   take.care.of-nf   do-adn-thing   be.like-conn  

kulayse       haksayng-ul     pwull-ess-e

therefore     student-acc     call-pst-sfp

‘That’s only when we get good results. So, first of all, I thought we needed to check the motor in the first place. That’s why I called you. Can you help out?’

(2000, Drama Khaist [KAIST] Episode #52)

In excerpt (14), M discusses the prospects of the ongoing project, and Y also anticipates a good result. In preparation for this, he plans to check the motor. The main topic between M and Y is the spindle motor project and checking the motor is a related subtopic. Kulayse iltan ‘so, first of all’ in Y’s talk signals a shift to the subtopic.

4.4.3. Interaction-initiator

Iltan in excerpt (15) also plays a role to break silence at the beginning of the discourse. C is a CEO running a business. M is a businessman and the boss of a gang in Thailand. C regards M as his business partner. They are sitting across the table from each other in a back room at a secret restaurant in a traditional Korean-style house. Behind them are their body guards.

(15)   C: 일단 말이 통하니 편합니다. 그동안 통역 끼고 일하려니까 원 답답해서...

iltan   mal-i           thongha-ni               phyenha-pnita               kutongan

dm     word-nom  communicate-cau   comfortable-hon.dec   meantime 

thongyek     kkiko        ilha-lye-nikka      wen   taptapha-y-se

interpreter   together   work-purp-cau   intj   frustrate-be-cau

‘Above all else! It’s convenient that we can communicate to each other (in Korean) now. It was frustrating having to rely on interpreters all this time...’

M: [I feel refreshed for everything, trying to realize my dream in my homeland. Oh, my God! I owed you a great debt before.]

(2007, Drama Kaywa Nuktayuy Sikan [Time for a Dog and a Wolf] Episode #03)

In (15) C starts his talk with the DM iltan, breaking the awkward atmosphere in the room. Therefore, the DM iltan functions as an interaction-initiator. In this context, iltan leads to a phatic communion (Malinowski 1972[1923]), prompting an exchange of turn-taking over conventional small talk to facilitate smooth interaction and enhance social rapport before engaging in serious business conversation. C discusses the advantages of conducting business with M, saying iltan mali thonghani phyenhapnita ‘You know, it’s convenient that we can communicate (in Korean) to each other now.’ In response, M expresses his renewed feelings about doing business in his homeland, Korea, and adds his gratitude for C’s previous treatment, as if something has suddenly come to mind. Phatic communion consists of conventionalized and formulaic expressions exchanged between interlocutors, showing an interpersonal and attitudinal stance.

4.4.4. Pause-filler

The pause-filler function and the hesitation function are practically indistinguishable because the distinction resides only in the speaker’s cognitive state or intention (Rhee 2020a and Rhee 2021). Excerpt (16) shows an example of iltan functioning as a pause-filler. H (a male)’s wife has gone to see her mother in a local city, and Y (a female)’s husband has an appointment to see his friends. H is asking Y to have dinner together.

(16) Y: [(Feeling stuffy and getting up)]

H: [(Startled) Why, why? Are you leaving?]

Y: [No... I just want to make a phone call at home... Because of my husband, I’m afraid he might be waiting for me. It’s been a week since he finished work and came back home... (trying to read his countenance) Well, he mentioned that he’s meeting a friend today though...]

H: [Oh... okay. If he’s going to see a friend, let’s have dinner together.]

Y: [?]

H: [(Mumbling) Um, my wife... Her parents moved their place... Where was it?... right, Cella Province, Swunchang... the famous place for red-pepper paste... She has gone there.]

Y: 그, 글쎄....일단 남편한테...물어보구. 남편이 안된다 그러면 안되구.

k, kulssey… iltan   namphyen-hanthey...  mwul-epo-kwu.

It, dm.         dm      husband-dat                 ask-attp-end.

namphyen-i       an-toy-n-ta                        kule-myen   an-toy-kwu.

husband-nom   not-become-pres-comp   say.so-if       not-become-end

  ‘Well... first, I’ll ask my husband... If he minds, then it’s not okay.’

(Drama, Kecismal [A lie] Episode #02)

A pause-filler can provide time for a proper lexical search. In this excerpt, the pause-fillers kulssey and iltan are used to find suitable excuses to politely reject without being offensive. The DM kulssey (Rhee 2015) indicates Y’s hesitation to give a clear answer to H’s proposal of having dinner together. Iltan also functions as a DM, signaling her priority on her husband’s schedule (namphyenhanthey mwulepokwu ‘I’ll ask my husband’) rather than H’s proposal, thereby avoiding an immediate and direct rejection. In this sense, iltan acts as a hesitation marker. She expresses her hesitation with the combined effects of the two DMs kulssey ‘well’ and iltan ‘first of all.’ The two hesitation markers are employed to avoid disheartening H in a straightforward way. Therefore, hesitation markers demonstrate politeness to save the addressee’s face, an example of intersubjectification.

4.4.5. Echoing response marker

Echoing response repeats what the interlocutor has just said, thereby demonstrating the interest in the ongoing conversation and maintaining the floor. Example (17) is a telephone conversation between K (a female) and Y (K’s female friend) about K’s boyfriend, J. J is holding a nice birthday party for K, just between J and K. During her birthday party, K is asking Y for advice over the phone to develop a more intimate relationship with him.

(17) Y: [Well, yeah, that’s right, that... huhuhu, Mr. J, he’s got some subtle charm.]

K: [(Eyes widen) Is that so?]

Y: [What are you up to?]

K: [(Looking at underwear) I’m contemplating. What should I do?]

Y: 어떡하긴 뭘 어떡해!  일단!  새로 산 속옷있지, 무조건 그거 입어.

ettek-ha-ki-n             mwe-l        ettek-ha-y!    iltan!   saylo sa-n

      how-do-nomz-top  what-acc    how-do-be   dm       newly buy-adn

sokos-iss-ci               mwucoken          kuke      ip-e

underwear-exist-q  without.question   it          put.on-imp

   ‘What should you do? First of all! You’ve just bought new underwear, so wear that for sure.’

K: 일단...입고 나서?...

iltan… ip-ko              na-se?...

       dm      wear-conn   come.out-conn

‘Alright…after I put it on, and then?...

Y: [The woman who approaches indiscriminately is really not that great.…]

(2010, Drama Kayinuy Chwihyang [A taste of Kayin] Episode #13)

In excerpt (17) Y advises K to wear new underwear. After listening to her advice, K repeats the phrase iltan ip ‘alright, wear it...’ and asks a question, ko nase? ‘and then?.’ In Y’s remark iltan! saylo san sokos…ipe ‘first of all, put on the new underwear that you bought,’ iltan means ‘first of all,’ modifying the following utterance saylo san sokos kuke ipe ‘wear the new underwear you have bought.’ In K’s remark iltan means ‘alright’ or ‘OK.’ Iltan shows K’s response to Y’s advice. By using the DM iltan, K expresses her involvement and interest in Y’s advice and allows Y to continue speaking, functioning as a continuer. Y answers K’s question about the next stage. As an echoing response marker, the second DM iltan can signal to the speaker that the addressee is actively engaged in the conversation, effectively exchanging turns. Echoing response in this context supports the idea that conversation is a collaborative effort between the speaker and the addressee, illustrating the concept of intersubjectivity.

4.4.6. Common-ground solicitor

Excerpt (18) is another example illustrating intersubjectivity. The drama Censeluy Kohayng deals with a story inherited from ancient times. In this episode, there are characters J, K, and A. In the drama, they are conspiring to rob a sedan chair belonging to a high official L, who is currently on a long business journey.

(18) J: [Okay. First of all, let’s have A take charge of the high official Lee. Find out where he is, and bring him over here by any means necessary. Will three days be enough? (Looking at K)]

K: [(Excitedly nodding) Three days sounds good.]

A: [Well, that should be sufficient.]

J: 그럼 가마 터는 법을 생각해 보자구. 가마 째로 뒤바꾸는 게 제일 쉬운 법일텐데.. 좋아. 그 방법으로 가자구. 일단,

kulem   kama            the-nun    pep-ul      sayngkak-ha-y   (e)po-cakwu.

if.so     sedan.chair  rob-adn   law-acc   think-do-nf         attp-hort.end

kama             ccaylo      twipakkwu-nun   ke-y            ceil   swiwun

sedan.chair   in.whole   exchange-adn    thing-nom  first   easy

pep-i-ltheyntey.., coha.   ku   pangpep-ulo   ka-cakwu.          iltan,

law-be-conn      OK.      it    method-inst   go- hort.end   dm.

‘If so, let’s think about robbing him of the sedan chair. It might be the easiest way to exchange it entirely for another. OK let’s go with it. Alright,’

(2008, Drama Censeluy Kohayng [A Birthplace of Folk Tales] Episode #7)

In excerpt (18), J, K, and A divide their tasks. A is in charge of finding L and bringing him here. J proposes the idea of robbing L of his sedan chair, saying, kama ccaylo twipakkwunun key ceil swiwun pepiltheyntey ‘the easiest way is to exchange the sedan chair in whole with another.’ In this excerpt, J uses iltan at the utterance-final position to solicit common-ground or consensus on his idea from K and
A. Therefore, it is interpersonal and intersubjective.

4.4.7. Interruption marker

Interrupting the speaker is generally regarded as impolite. However, for various reasons, discourse markers of interruption (DMIs) are often used by discourse participants to cut into the discourse and discourage the speaker from continuing. The DMI is used tactfully and effectively in discourse to achieve the interlocuter’s purpose while minimizing the face-threatening nature of the speech act for the speaker. Therefore, DMIs often take the form of short fragmentary expressions to gain immediate attention, such as guarda ‘look’ in Italian (Waltereit 2002), wait (Balteiro 2018, Tagaliamonte 2021), camkkan, kaman, and kuman ‘just a moment’ in Korean (Rhee 2024). Iltan also functions as a DMI in Korean.

In excerpt (19) there are two characters: a female, T, and a male, S. S wants to propose marriage to T, while T also has something important to tell him.

(19) T: [Mr. S. I have something to talk to you.]

 S: 잠깐만요. 일단, 차에 타고 얘기해요. 저도 Miss T한테 할 말 있어요.

camkkanmanyo. iltan,  cha-ey    tha-ko             yayki  hay-yo.  ce-to

dmi                    dmi,   car-loc   get.on-conn  talk     do-hon  I-also

Miss T-hanthey   ha-l         mal      iss-eyo.

[name]-dat        say-adn  word   exist-pol

‘Just a moment, wait, let’s get in the car and then have a talk. I also have something to discuss with you.’

(2003, Drama 1%uy Etten Kes [A Thing of 1%] Episode #10)

In excerpt (19) S interrupts T’s speech using a combination of the DMIs camkkanmanyo ‘just a moment’ and iltan ‘wait’ or ‘look.’ Camkkanmanyo is one of the DMIs (Rhee 2024). The DMIs camkkanmanyo and iltan suggest that ‘getting in a car’ should take priority over her talk, as getting into the car is the most urgent task at hand. These DMIs camkkanmanyo and iltan shift the focus to the immediate task, showing S’s positive and receptive attitudinal stance toward T’s agenda, which will be addressed after they get into the car. In this context, although the DMIs camkkanmanyo and iltan interrupt T’s speech, S’s receptive attitude towards T’s agenda indicates that iltan is not used impolitely here.

  1. Discussion

5.1. The source characteristics

The Chinese yīdàn (一旦) and the borrowed Korean word iltan exhibit both similarities and differences in their meanings and functions. Let us examine the similarities. First, the literal and original meaning of yīdàn as ‘one morning’ is obsolete in Present-Day Chinese (PDC), just as iltan is in PDK, according to Long (p.c.) and Yang (p.c.).

This paper argues that the meaning of ‘one morning’ in iltan in Korean competed with, and gave way to the Sino-Korean word ilco (一朝: il () meaning ‘one’ and co () meaning ‘morning’), which also means ‘one morning,’ as well as the pure Korean words halwu-achim (a.day-morning) meaning ‘one morning’ and enu-nal (some-day) meaning ‘one day’ (layering (Hopper & Traugott 2003[1993])). The Chinese character ILCO is first attested in the 15th century in Korean Historical Corpus, as seen in (20a), and the written form ilco in Hankul is first attested in the 18th century, as seen in (20b). Both the Chinese character word ILCO and Hankul ilco are still in use in PDK.

(20) a. 百千佛刹 一朝애 革시니

PAYCHEN-PWULCHAL-Al                         ILCO-ay                HYEKhA-si-ni

hundred.thousand-Bhuddhist.temple-acc   one.morning-loc   innovate-hon-cau

‘(The king) innovates many Buddhist temples one morning.’

(1447 Yongpiechenka #213)

b. 엇지 일조의 을 죽이고져 냐

esci              ilco-uy                    sAlAm-ul       cwuki-kocye   hA-nA-nya

how.come   one.morning-loc   human-acc    kill-purp        do-cr-q

‘How come you intend to kill the people (you came here with) one morning?’

(17?? Ulpeyngyenhaynglok 4, #551)

Example (11) from Section 2.3, which is revisited in (21), features both iltan and ilcyo (a variant of ilco, which was also first attested in the 18th century and circulated until the turn of the 20th century.) within the same sentence. Despite originating from logographs with the same meaning, ‘one morning,’ iltan conveys a conditional sense, while ilcyo means ‘one morning’ or ‘one day.’

(21) 일단국혼이 완젼불멸면 돌연히 일죠에 긔이 샹통야 부강국이 되리로다

iltankwukhon-i                  wancyenpwulmyel-hAmeyn   tolyenhi    ilcyo-ey

once.national.spilit-nom   total immortal-cond                suddenly  one.day-loc

kuymAyk-i                                 syangthonghA-ya      pwukangkwuk-i       

the.wavelength(thread)-nom   communicate-conn   rich.strong.nation-nom 

toy-l-ilota

become-fut-end

‘In case the national spirit is totally immortal, the thread will suddenly run through one day, and the nation will become rich and strong.’

(1904, Tayhanmayilsinpo #18714)

As mentioned in Section 4.1, iltan has evolved from an adverb into a conditional connective and DM, losing its original meaning of ‘one morning.’ Conversely, ilco has not undergone   grammaticalization to become a DM and still retains its original meaning of ‘one morning’ in PDK.

The pure Korean word halwuachim is first attested in the 15th century, as seen in (22) and is still in use in PDK.

(22) a. 無量劫으로셔 長常母子ㅣ 외야 오다니  아 외야 몯보게 외요니

MWULYANGKEP-ulo cangsang-moca-i       tAoy-ya       o-ta-ni

long.long.time-ins        always-mother.son-nom  become-nf  come-retr-conn

hAlAs   achAm-Ay        nAoyya  mot-pozAp-key   tAoy-yoni

one.day  morning-loc  again      not-see-conn     become-cau

‘For a long long time we have always been a mother and son. One morning, a mother and her son can’t see each other again.’

(1447 Sekposangcel 23 #28)

As seen in examples above, the earliest attestations of the Sino-Korean words iltan and ilco, and the pure Korean words halwuachim and enunal were all found in the 15th century.

Second, yīdàn in PDC also designates ‘for a while’ or ‘in a moment,’ according to Long (p.c.). The text in (23) is taken from the Biography of Song Fu in the History of the Late Han Dynasty, which was written by the historian Fan Ye in the 5th century.

(23)  天下非一时之用也,海内非一旦之功也

tiānxià        fēi    yīshí                  zhī  yòng  yě,

the.world   not   single.moment   of    use    end

hǎinèi                 fēi     yīdàn            zhī   gōng              yě.

within.the.seas  not     in.an.instant  of   achievement  end

‘The world cannot be achieved in short time, nor can the stability of the realm be accomplished in short time.’ (5th century, Book of Late Han Dynasty, Biography of Song Fu (后汉书·宋浮传))

In (23), the Chinese yīdàn means ‘in an instant’ or ‘for a while.’ (24) provides another example of yīdàn in Chinese, meaning ‘in an instant’ or ‘for a while.’

(24)    毁于一旦

huǐ           yú   yīdàn

destroy   in     short.period.of.time

‘(Something) is destroyed in a very short time’

Third, the conditional connective meaning of ‘once’ or ‘in case’ is present in both PDC and PDK, according to Zhang (2014: 218–219), Long (p.c.), and Yang (p.c.). Example (25), taken from a Chinese dictionary, illustrates the hypothetical meaning of yīdàn.11

(25)  一旦发生核战争, 整个地球将会陷入灾难.

 Yīdàn fāshēng hé           zhànzhēng, zhěnggè  dìqiú   jiāng  huì     xiànrù      zāinàn.

 if         happens nuclear  war             entire      earth   will    might  fall.into  disaster

 ‘If an atomic war were to break out, it would be disastrous for the entire world.’

Fourth, regarding grammatical category, both yīdàn in PDC and iltan in PDK are used generally as adverbs. Ráo & Pān (2011: 48) argue that the adverb yīdàn began to emerge in the Eastern Han Dynasty (from 25 AD to 220 AD) and further developed during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties (from 220 AD to 589 AD).

The difference is that the Chinese yīdàn does not carry the meaning of priority. Long (p.c.) argues that yīdàn has evolved in meaning along the path of [‘one morning’ > ‘in a short time’ > ‘in case’]. For the meaning of priority, lìkè (立刻) is used in PDC. The term lìkè has developed in meaning along the path of [‘in a short time’ > ‘immediately’ > ‘first of all’].

Although iltan in Korean is a borrowed term, its evolution indicates a range of diverse meanings such as ‘first of all,’ ‘for a while,’ ‘once,’ and ‘in case,’ along with its functions as a DM, which are more varied than those of yīdàn in Chinese. Iltan in Korean exemplifies ‘evolutive’ or ‘natural’ development (Paul 1920[1880], Anderson 1973, Thomason & Kaufman 1988). These scenarios strongly suggest that the cognitive processes driving this development are effective, and that the lexical source significantly influences the direction and outcome of grammaticalization, as proposed by the Source Determination Hypothesis (Bybee et al. 1994, Traugott 2014b).

5.2. Discourse grammar and cooptation

The findings in Section 4 showed that the development of the Korean DM iltan is ascribed to the interplay between cooptation and grammaticalization in discourse grammar (Heine et al. 2017, 2021), discussed in Section 2. This process began with early grammaticalization, which transformed the noun iltan, meaning ‘one morning,’ into an adverb and a conditional connective in LMA. During the early grammaticalization phase, iltan undergoes decategorization and desemanticization with a zero morpho-phonological change. This was followed by cooptation, where the coopted unit (the thetical iltan) was utilized as a DM in the 18th century within the EMoK. Finally, late grammaticalization occurs within the DM, allowing iltan to take on a broad spectrum of subjective and intersubjective stances expressed by the speaker. At the late grammaticalization phase, the DM iltan is used in a broader range of situations, including presenting topics (=DM1) as exemplified in (13), shifting subtopics (=DM2) as shown in (14), initiating interaction (=DM3) as in (15), filling pauses or indicating hesitation (=DM4) as in (16), expressing echoing response (=DM5) as in (17), seeking common ground (=DM6) as shown in (18), and causing interruptions (=DM7) as illustrated in (19). The evolution of the DM iltan can be illustrated as shown in (26).

(26) Development of DM iltan

Phase 1: Early grammaticalization (decategorization, desemanticization, zero derivation)

Phase 2: Cooptation (involving the rise of DM)

Adv. iltan → DM iltan

Phase 3: Late grammaticalization (context extension of pragmatic uses)

 

 

 

The transition of iltan from an adverb in sentence grammar to a DM at the discourse level involves several changes outlined in (27). These changes together allow iltan to broaden its functions, moving from lexical uses at the sentence level to pragmatic applications at the discourse level. Consequently, cooptation signifies a process that highlights this shift, as iltan becomes more clearly associated with the discourse context.

(27) Effects of cooptation for the Korean DM iltan (adapted from Heine et al. 2021: 208)

  1. Meaning: As a DM, iltan no longer contributes to the propositional content of its host utterance.
  2. Function: Its function is metatextual, relating to the attitudes of the speaker and speaker-hearer interaction.
  3. Syntax: It has a syntactic independence from the rest of the sentence.
  4. Prosody: It is marked off prosodically. There may be pauses before and after iltan.
  5. Semantic-pragmatic scope: It seems to have distinctly wider scope than the adverb, extending beyond the clause it is associated with.
  6. Placement: It can either be placed at the left or the right periphery of a sentence or in medial position.

5.3. (Inter)subjectification and periphery

‘One morning,’ the original meaning of iltan, was circulated until in the 18th century and became extinct in PDK. But the diverse meanings and functions derived from its source can be illustrated by metonymy, subjectification, and intersubjectification.

Morning comes first, ahead of afternoon and evening. Morning swiftly passes and gives way to afternoon and evening. Therefore, the semantic extension of iltan from ‘one morning’ to priority (‘first of all’) and brevity (‘for a while’) is an instance of metonymy based on contiguity.

It is a natural course of the developmental path, driven by the human tendency to attribute subjective value to an event or state of affairs. The emergences of the meanings such as ‘first of all,’ ‘for a while,’ and ‘once’ from the original meaning ‘one morning’ serve as a clear example of subjectification (Hopper & Traugott 2003[1993]). This process involves evaluating an aspect or entity from a perspective of another aspect or entity.

The development of a DM iltan exemplifies both subjectification and intersubjectification. The functions of a subtopic shift, a pause-filling, and a DMI are the instances of subjectification. In general, the DM of interaction-initiator, leading to the phatic communion by exchanging conventional expressions, tend to go further from the proposition level to the interactional level for strategic reasons, i.e., to engage the interlocutor to pay attention to the discourse and share the smooth atmosphere that the speaker designs before they start a serious official topic, thus inducing the function from the subjective to the intersubjective level. Furthermore, the development of the DM iltan —as a marker of inviting the addressee into the common ground of shared information or feelings, of signaling hesi­tance to reveal dispreferred information for the sake of politeness, and of showing an echoing response to encourage the speaker to continue —serves as a good exam­ple of intersubjectification (Traugott 2003, 2010, Traugott & Dasher 2002). The developmental path of the semantic-functional extension of the lexeme iltan from the source meaning to the DM can be diagrammatically presented in Figure 1.

Regarding the peripheral asymmetry hypothesis (Beeching & Detges 2014) discussed in Section 2, the DM iltan appears at LR, RP, and MED, demonstrating both subjective and intersubjective functions. Observations indicate that iltan occurs more frequently at LP than at MED or RP, as shown in Section 4.4. When distinguishing subjective and intersubjective func­tions of iltan, its roles as an interruption signal, sub-topic initiator, and pause-filler are subjective, whereas its other functions—such as echoing response, common-ground solici­tation, hesitance, and interaction initiation—are intersubjective. The function of a topic-presentation can be both subjective and intersubjective, depending on the context. The (inter)subjectivity variable and the positionality variable with respect to the functions of the DM iltan are laid out in Table 1. Iltan at LP carries both subjective and intersubjective functions. Thus, the peripheral asymmetry hypothesis, which states that LP is associated with the subjective functions whereas RP is associated with the intersubjective functions, is not sup­ported by the developmental pattern displayed by the DM iltan.

Figure 1. Semantic and functional extension patterns of iltan

Table 1. (Inter)subjectivity and periphery of the DM iltan 

 

Subjective function

Intersubjective function

LP

DMI

Interaction-initiation

 

Pause-filling

Echoing response

 

 

Hesitance

MED

Sub-topic shift

 

 

Topic presentation

Topic-presentation

RP

 

Common-ground solicitation

  1. Conclusion

This article has explored the development of the Sino-Korean lexeme iltan, focusing specifically on its semantic and structural changes. The word is composed of two logographs: il (一) meaning ‘one’ and tan (旦) meaning ‘morning’. Its earliest recorded use as a noun dates back to the 15th century in LMK, where it appeared in a non-argument position (in the adverbial phrase) in combination with a locative postpositon -ay. The adverb iltan, dropping the locative postpositon -ay and undergoing zero derivation, began to be used in the 16th century in LMK. The initial meaning of ‘one morning’ persisted until the 18th century in EMoK. By the 18th century, new meanings derived from contextual usage began to emerge. Additionally, from this period, iltan started to be used with the topic marker -un, though less frequently than without it in historical texts. Its role as a DM through the cooptation in the discourse grammar developed in EMoK.

Throughout its semantic evolution, iltan demonstrates a shift from temporal sense to notions of priority and conditionality, highlighting the speaker’s perspective (subjectification). It also shows intersubjectification, where the speaker cues the listener to share a certain interactional attitude and evaluation. When considering DMs, the positions at LP, RP, and MED are often analyzed. Although iltan can be found at MED and RP, it is more frequently seen at LP, where it conveys both subjective and intersubjective implications. Therefore, the positional asymmetry does not align with the use of iltan as a DM. This paper has only briefly outlined the similarities and differences between the Korean iltan and the Chinese yīdàn. However, the analysis of their source characteristics suggests that this research calls for extensive comparative studies of iltan across Asian languages that use Chinese-origin borrowed words.

Abbreviations

ACC: accusative; ADN: adnominal; ALL: allative; ATTP: attemptive; CAU; causative; COMP: complementizer; CONC: concessive; COND: conditional; CONN: connective; CR: current-relevance; DAT: dative; DM: discourse marker; DMI: discourse marker of interruption; EMoK: early modern Korean; END: sentential-ending; FUT: future; GEN: genitive; HON: honorific; HORT: hortative; HYP: hypothetical, INST: instrumental; INTJ: interjection; LMK: late middle Korean; LOC: locative; MK: middle Korean; MOK: modern Korean; NEG: negative; NF: non-finite marker; NOM: nominative; NOMZ: nominalizer; OK: Old Korean; PDC: present-day Chinese; PDK: present-day Korean; POL: polite; PRES: present; PST: past; PURP: purposive; REPT: reportative; RETR: retrospective; SFP: sentence-final particle; SUB: subjunctive; and TOP: topic.

 

1 Theticals are referred to as parentheticals. The grammatical properties of theticals have been covered in the comprehensive literature regarding parentheticals. However, researchers associate a variety of concepts with the term parentheticals. For more information, see Heine et al. (2021: 73).

2 Heine et al. (2021: 74–75) group theticals into three types: instantaneous theticals, constructional theticals, and formulaic theticals. Formulaic theticals include formulae of social exchange (e.g., Good morning!, hello!, please) and interjections (e.g., boy!, fuck!, hell!). Another example of formulaic theticals is DMs, such as anyway, however, indeed, in fact, instead, I mean, now, okay, so, still, then, I think, well, what else, you know.

3 ‘Dialogual’ refers to two or more speakers, ‘dialogic’ to two or more view-points (Onodera and Traugott 2016: 166).

4 I would like to express my gratitude to the developers of these datasets and the search tool for their generosity in allowing their use for academic research.

5 The following periodization is adopted in this article: Old Korean (OK; –917), Early Middle Korean (EMK; 918–1445), Late Middle Korean (LMK; 1446–1600), Early Modern Korean (EMoK; 1601–1893), Modern Korean (MoK; 1894–present), and Present-Day Korean (PDK; 2000–present; note that PDK is a subset of MoK).

6 Wanwelhoymayngyen is an epic novel, which is estimated to be written in the 18th century, but the exact year of publication is unknown.

7 Let us look at the source of the conditional connective -umyen. Koo & Rhee (2001: 5) argue that umyen breaks into a simultaneity temporal connective -umye plus a topic marker -nun, as shown in (i). Therefore, the evolvement of the conditionality is related with the concept of temporality.
(i) -umyen = -umye (simultaneity temporal connective) + -nun (topic marker)

8 The variant form iltanun was attested in several old Hankul novels such as Heynssiyangwungssanglinki, Wanwelhoymayngyen, Yunhacengsammwunchwilok, and others. The periods of their creations are not known. If proven, the beginning of its usage will be revised.

9 A Sinsosel is a type of novel that was widely distributed around the turn of the 20th century in Korea.

10 In the orthography of PDK, a white space divides iltankwukhon into iltan and kwukhon and kuymAyk into kuy and mAyk. But in attestation of Tayhanmayilsinpo they are not broken down by the white space.

11 https://www.collinsdictionary.com/zh/dictionary/chinese-english/%E4%B8%80%E6%97%A6

×

About the authors

Sunhee Yae

Chung-Ang University

Author for correspondence.
Email: syae@cau.ac.kr
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3313-9725

Associate Professor in the College of General Education at Chung-Ang University in Seoul and Anseong, Republic of Korea. She received her MA in Language and Linguistics from University of Essex in 1998 and her PhD in English Linguistics from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 2002. Her research interests include grammaticalization, discourse analysis, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics.

Seoul/Anseong, Republic of Korea

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