| There are abundant sensory adjectives in both Korean and Chinese, which can express various delicate sensory experiences. In terms of word formation and the structure of semantic field, Korean and Chinese share many common features, and at the same time vary from each other. Through detailed analysis, the aim of this research is to clarify the different characteristics of sensory adjectives concerning lexical system, word formation and semantic field in two languages.The significance of this dissertation lies in the following four aspects. Firstly, as to the word formation of sensory adjectives in Korean and Chinese, this research not only examines the affix, root and phonologic transference in two languages, but also discusses the semantic function of various morphemes and consonant or vowel transference. Therefore, it provides reliable evidence to the componential analysis. Secondly, from the viewpoint of word formation, this research discusses the formation process and lexical gap of sensory adjectives in two languages, as well as the restriction of phonologic and semantic elements in this process. Thirdly, this research adopts the methodology of componential analysis to study the basic meaning of sensory adjectives. With the help of a reasonable, effective and economic set of sememes, this research reveals semantic relevance and difference between synonyms. On this basis, therefore, it establishes the semantic structure of sensory adjectives, and finds out that the difference in terms of degree is the commonest and the most important semantic feature to distinguish various sensory adjectives. Fourthly, through a thorough comparison of sensory adjectives, this research discovers that there are a wide range of differences in relation to word formation, semantic structure, etc. between Chinese (as an isolating language) and Korean (as an agglutinative language). Thus, it provides a specific case and evidence to the typological study of these two languages.The first chapter is an introduction which includes research object and theoretical methodology of this research, as well as language data and the result of previous researches.The second chapter discusses the definition and categorization of sensory adjectives. In this research, the range of senses is limited to sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch and space which are felt by outside sensory organs. These six categories can be divided into several sub-classifications. For example, taste can be further divided into six types, namely sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, spiciness, astringency; touch can be divided into three types which are the sense of temperature, pain and pressure. Sight is the most important way to feel the outside world, but the scope is very hard to determine. Therefore, the research scope in this study is limited to color sense which is the most typical one. The first entry in the dictionary is regarded as the standards to select and classify individual words, excluding the evaluation adjectives such as’good, bad, strong, weak’, and it is necessary to avoid classifying one word to several categories.The third chapter analyzes the word formation of sensory words in Korean and Chinese. According to the combination methods of morpheme, sensory words can be divided into simple words, derivative words and compound words. The words contain only one morpheme are called simple words. Although they are small in quantity, they are the foundation of many other words. The meaning of simple words is most extensive, because they only express objective properties without subjective meaning such as degree or evaluation. The derivative words are combined by root and affix. Derivative words in Korean can be formed by prefix and suffix, but no prefix can be found in Chinese. There are many different opinions on derivation in Chinese, as well as the definition of affix. This research employs the term’auxiliary affix’and discusses its definition and the question about how to judge it. The affixes in Korean sensory words usually connect with degree, but the function of affixes in Chinese sensory words is more various--some express degree, some express evaluation, and others are about abstract process and conserve their original meaning. The compound words can be divided into’ same root combination’ and ’different roots combination’. As to Korean compound words, the roots can be directly combined or helped by endings which belong to grammatical morpheme, and simple words can be combined with derivative words. As to Chinese compound words, the roots are combined directly in several types, such as ’AA’,’ABB’,’BBA’,’AABB’ or ’ABAB’. Except the method of adding morphemes, many sensory adjectives are formed by consonant or vowel transference. The consonant transference may express delicate differences of degree, but the meaning difference carried by vowel transference depends upon the variation of sensory types. This research also discusses the restriction on word formation and lexical gap.The fourth chapter analyzes the semantic structure of synonyms in each type. The meaning of a word can be divided into’basic meaning’and’transfer meaning’ The basic meaning does not depend on context, and it occurs to one’s mind at first when the word presents by itself. The dictionary always applies synonyms to explain the meaning of another one, so the explanation in dictionary usually does not distinct delicate differences between synonyms. This research approaches the basic meaning with componential analysis which divides the meaning into several smaller sememe. Therefore, the connection and distinction between synonyms can be examined. The most obvious semantic feature of adjectives is subjectivity. That means the degree and evaluation meanings always depend on speaker’s subjective judgment. Degree is the most important distinctive feature to differentiate similar sensory words, except the ’properties adjectives’. Almost all sensory adjectives in Korean contain degree meaning and can be divided into several grades, but in Chinese only part of sensory adjectives contain degree meaning which is hard to be divided into delicate grades. In Korean, the degree meaning can be carried by affix, phonologic transference and reduplication. In Chinese, the degree meaning is mainly expressed by reduplication. Complimentary and derogatory meanings as a semantic feature only exist in some types. There are no words expressing complimentary meaning in bad smell or pain because of the universal evaluation of human beings. But complimentary and derogatory meanings as a semantic feature exist in taste, color, hearing and temperature adjectives, and there are also some words contain evaluation meaning in adjectives concerning space. Except those subjective semantic features, there are also other distinctive features according to different types, for example, the temperature of an object or weather is a semantic feature to distinguish temperature adjectives, and brightness is a semantic feature to differentiate color adjectives. In addition, some adjectives usually appear with certain nouns in sentences. For example, some color adjectives only express the color of human face or skin. Such relationship also acts as a feature to distinguish them from other words.The fifth chapter summarizes the main ideas of this research as a conclusion, meanwhile presents the limitation of this dissertation. |
