Korean Management Review

Korean Management Review

Edited by: Hee-ung Kim Print ISSN: 1226-1874 Online ISSN: 2951-3480 © THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. Frequency: Publication Frequency: Six times per year (February 28, April 30, June 30, August 31, October 31, and December 31)
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Latest Issue Vol. 60, No. 5 2025

Interactional and Rhetorical Functions of –nka in Korean — A Discourse-Based Analysis Across Spoken and Written Modes

Jeong Seunggon Bae, Eun Young

서울대학교 서울대학교

Korean Management Review 60Vol. 5No. pp.165-194 (2025)

DOI: 10.20880/kler.2025.60.5.165

Abstract

This study examines how the Korean interrogative ending –nka functions across spoken and written discourse and addresses three research questions concerning its interactional purposes, mode-specific distribution, and pedagogical implications. Spoken telephone conversations and written newspaper texts were analyzed to capture distinct discourse ecologies. Using data drawn from the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) Corpus and the Sejong Corpus, the study conducted a qualitative discourse- and interaction-based analysis to identify the functional patterns of –nka. The findings show that –nka is used in spoken interaction to manage uncertainty, seek confirmation, and formulate self-addressed questioning, whereas in written discourse it serves rhetorical and issue-raising purposes tied to stance-taking. These results suggest that teaching –nka requires attention to genre-specific functions and epistemic stance management. The study thereby highlights the pedagogical value of integrating discourse context into instruction on sentence-final endings in Korean.

Keywords

–nkainterrogative endingepistemic stancediscourse analysisspoken–written modeKorean language pedagogy

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