A Study on the ‘Eopda’ Construction in Korean Novels and Its Corresponding Expressions in Chinese : Focusing on the Dependent Noun Usage of ‘Eopda’

Dependent nouns are a distinctive feature of Korean grammar; however, as this concept does not exist in Chinese, it poses significant challenges for Chinese learners of Korean. This study focuses on the expression “dependent noun + 없다” by analyzing its usage in three Korean novels selected from the annual bestseller list on the Chinese platform Douban (豆瓣). A total of 529 sentences containing dependent nouns were identified, showcasing diverse forms of six key dependent nouns: ‘수’, ‘것’, ‘적’, ‘데’, ‘리’, and ‘바’. Drawing upon prior research, the study adopts the structural framework of “preceding element + dependent noun ‘것’ + following element” to systematically examine the combinatory patterns with the predicate ‘없다’. Furthermore, the Korean original texts are juxtaposed with their Chinese translations to compare and analyze syntactic structures and semantic characteristics. By elucidating the linguistic interplay between “dependent noun + 없다” in Korean and its Chinese equivalents, this study seeks to enhance the pedagogical understanding of negation and dependent noun expressions, ultimately providing valuable insights for more effective Korean language instruction tailored to Chinese learners.