Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/39352

This paper compares the giving and receiving expressions of Japanese and Korean from the viewpoint of "directionality" and "completeness" of action. These terms have not previously been used in explaining the meaning and function of "-te ageru, -te kureru" sentences in Japanese, and "-e cwuta" sentences in Korean. I perform a questionnaire survey to native speakers of both languages in order to analyze what kind of differences exist between "-te ageru, -te kureru" and "-e cwuta". Our results show that "constraints of directionality" and "constraints of completeness" of action are relevant to the difference between the two languages. The paper clarifies that "-te ageru, -te kureru" expressions are sensitive to the directionality of the act from "uchi" to "soto" and vice versa. On the other hand, Korean "-e cwuta" expressions have constraints on the "completeness of action" which is performed.