A study of modal josa in the Western Gyeongnam province dialect.

This study examines the realization of the modal josa (i.e., Korean modal particles) in the Western Gyeongnam dialect. Modal josa can be divided into “general modal josa” and “sentence-final modal josa.” The general modal josa ‘-ro’ (-로) in the Western Gyeongnam dialect appears after case markers, auxiliary particles, or connective endings, and it expresses the speaker’s attitude toward the utterance. Sentence-final modal josa are realized after sentence-final endings, and include forms such as ‘-i’, ‘-ye’, ‘-boja’, ‘-ma’, and ‘-ida’ (-이다). In particular, ‘-ida’ (-이다) is a unique form that appears only in the Namhae region. Sentence-final modal josa convey the speaker’s attitude toward the proposition, making them similar to discourse markers. However, they can be distinguished from discourse markers in that they cannot be separated from the sentence-final endings.