An Analysis of the Meanings of Periphrastic Constructions Involving the Dependent Noun ‘ppun’ - A Relevevance- Theoretic Perspective.

Given that the dependent noun ‘ppun’ consistently appears as a constituent of specific periphrastic constructions, this study posits that such constructions are stored in the lexicons of native speakers. Based on this assumption, five periphrastic constructions involving ‘ppun’ were selected as the objects of semantic analysis. These periphrastic constructions are viewed as encoding procedural meaning that constrains the hearer's inference during the inferential phase of utterance interpretation. Accordingly, their procedural meanings were analyzed in detail. The findings are summarized as follows. ‘-eul ppun’ and ‘-da ppuniji’ guide the hearer to deny any assumptions beyond the proposition expressed in the preceding clause. By linking the intended assumption in the following clause, the speaker reduces the hearer's processing effort in inferring which assumption is being negated. ‘-ta ppun-i-’ leads the hearer to infer that the situation the speaker intends to convey holds a higher scalar value than the proposition explicitly expressed in the utterance. ‘-eul ppun(man) anira’ leads the hearer to interpret both the preceding and following propositions as evidence for the same assumption, thereby producing a cognitive strengthening effect regarding that assumption. The procedural meanings of the various ‘ppun’ periphrastic constructions can be seen as constraining the hearer’s process of implicature derivation.