1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Korean Linguistics
  4. Volume 21, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 21, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0257-3784
  • E-ISSN: 2212-9731
EPUB
PDF

Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates Korean honorific processing, specifically examining whether it is rule-based or lexicon-based. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in a group of twenty native Korean speakers to explore their responses to honorific mismatches. Participants were presented with eight variations of Korean sentences, differing in formality, honorific usage, and address form categories. The results revealed the presence of the N400 effect, indicating sensitivity to honorific mismatches in Korean. However, no P600 effect was observed. These findings suggest that Korean honorific concord relies on a semantic-pragmatic cognitive mechanism rather than strict rule-based processing, as supported by the N400 effect. Notably, the N400 effect was more pronounced when non-honorific verbal marking was combined with honorific address terms and in formal style sentences. These results suggest that honorific concord in Korean is influenced by both social context and grammar rules, particularly among individuals of higher social status in formal situations. Overall, this study contributes valuable insights into the neurological basis of pragmatic concord across diverse languages.

© 2025 John Benjamins Publishing Company
Available under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
2026-01-29
2026-02-17

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/kl.00012.jeo.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Ahn, H.
    (2017) Seoul Uncle: Cultural conceptualisations behind the use of address terms in Korean. InSharifian, F. (Ed.), Advances in cultural linguistics, 411–431. Springer, Singapore. 10.1007/978‑981‑10‑4056‑6_19
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4056-6_19 [Google Scholar]
  2. Alberts, J. K.
    (1990) The use of humour in managing couples’ conflict interactions. InD. D. Cahn (Ed.), Intimates in Conflict: A Communication Perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Amoruso, L., Gelormini, C., Aboitiz, F. A., González, A., Manes, F., Cardona, J., & Ibanez, A.
    (2013) N400 ERPs for actions: building meaning in context. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 71, 57. 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057
     https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057 [Google Scholar]
  4. Boeckx, C. & Niinuma, F.
    (2004) Conditions on agreement in Japanese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 22(3), 453–480. 10.1023/B:NALA.0000027669.59667.c5
     https://doi.org/10.1023/B:NALA.0000027669.59667.c5 [Google Scholar]
  5. Brown, L.
    (2013a) “Mind your own esteemed business”: sarcastic honorifics use and impoliteness in Korean TV dramas. Journal of Politeness Research, 9(2), 159–186. 10.1515/pr‑2013‑0008
     https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2013-0008 [Google Scholar]
  6. (2013b) Teaching ‘casual’and/or ‘impolite’language through multimedia: The case of non-honorific panmal speech styles in Korean. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 26(1), 1–18. 10.1080/07908318.2012.745551
     https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2012.745551 [Google Scholar]
  7. (2015) Honorifics and Politeness. InBrown, L. & Yeon, J., The Handbook of Korean Linguistics, 303–319. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118371008.ch17
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118371008.ch17 [Google Scholar]
  8. (2015) Revisiting “polite”–yo and “deferential”–supnita speech style shifting in Korean from the viewpoint of indexicality. Journal of Pragmatics, 791, 43–59. 10.1016/j.pragma.2015.01.009
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.01.009 [Google Scholar]
  9. (2015) Expressive, social and gendered meanings of Korean honorifics. Korean Linguistics, 17(2), 242–266. 10.1075/kl.17.2.04bro
     https://doi.org/10.1075/kl.17.2.04bro [Google Scholar]
  10. Ceong, H., & Saxon, L.
    (2020, May). Addressee honorifics as allocutive agreement in Japanese and Korean. In2020 CLA conference proceedings. Ottawa: Canadian Linguistics Association. https://cla-acl.artsci.utoronto.ca/actes-2020-proceedings.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Choe, J.
    (2004) Obligatory Honorification and the Honorific Feature. Sayngsengmunpepyenkwu (Studies in Generative Grammar), 14(4), 545–559.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Choi, I.
    (2003) A constraint-based approach to Korean partial honorific agreement. InThe Role of Agreement in Natural Language: TLS 5 Proceedings. Austin, TX: Texas Linguistics Forum.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Culpeper, J.
    (2011) Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511975752
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511975752 [Google Scholar]
  14. Culpeper, J., Haugh, M., & Sinkeviciute, V.
    (2017) (Im)politeness and mixed messages. InCulpeper, J., Haugh, M., & Kádár (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, 323–355. Palgrave Macmillan, London. 10.1057/978‑1‑137‑37508‑7_13
     https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_13 [Google Scholar]
  15. Fiebach, C. J., Schlesewsky, M., & Friederici, A. D.
    (2002) Separating syntactic memory costs and syntactic integration costs during parsing: The processing of German WH-questions. Journal of Memory and Language, 47(2), 250–272. 10.1016/S0749‑596X(02)00004‑9
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(02)00004-9 [Google Scholar]
  16. Friederici, A. D., Pfeifer, E. & Hahne, A.
    (1993) Event-related brain potentials during natural speech processing: effects of semantic, morphological and syntactic violations. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res1(3),183–92. 10.1016/0926‑6410(93)90026‑2
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0926-6410(93)90026-2 [Google Scholar]
  17. Gouvea, A. C., Phillips, C., Kazanina, N. & Poeppel, D.
    (2010) The linguistic processes underlying the P600. Language and Cognitive Processes251, 149–18. 10.1080/01690960902965951
     https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960902965951 [Google Scholar]
  18. Hagoort, P., Hald, L., Bastiaansen, M., & Petersson, K. M.
    (2004) Integration of word meaning and world knowledge in language comprehension. Science, 3041, 438–441. 10.1126/science.1095455
     https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1095455 [Google Scholar]
  19. Harkness, N.
    (2015) Basic kinship terms: Christian relations, chronotopic formulations, and a Korean confrontation of language. Anthropological Quarterly, 305–336. 10.1353/anq.2015.0025
     https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2015.0025 [Google Scholar]
  20. Hasegawa, N.
    (2017) Honorifics. InEveraert, M. & van Riemsdijk, H., The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118358733.wbsyncom073
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118358733.wbsyncom073 [Google Scholar]
  21. Haugh, M.
    (2014) Jocular mockery as interactional practice in everyday Anglo-Australian conversation. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 34(1), 76–99. 10.1080/07268602.2014.875456
     https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2014.875456 [Google Scholar]
  22. Holmes, J.
    (2000) Politeness, power and provocation: how humour functions in the workplace. Discourse Studies, 2(2), 159–185. 10.1177/1461445600002002002
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445600002002002 [Google Scholar]
  23. Hwang, J. R.
    (1990) ‘Deference’ versus ‘politeness’ in Korean speech. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 82: Aspects of Korean Sociolinguistics, 41–55. 10.1515/ijsl.1990.82.41
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1990.82.41 [Google Scholar]
  24. Ide, S.
    (1989) Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua, 8(2–3), 223–248. 10.1515/mult.1989.8.2‑3.223
     https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.1989.8.2-3.223 [Google Scholar]
  25. Inoue, K. & Osterhout, L.
    (2005) An ERP study of Japanese honorification: Are honorific features grammaticalized?. Poster presented atthe 18th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Tucson AZ.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Ito, A., Corley, M., Pickering, M. J., Martin, A. E., & Nieuwland, M. S.
    (2016) Predicting form and meaning: Evidence from brain potentials. Journal of Memory and Language, 861, 157–171. 10.1016/j.jml.2015.10.007
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2015.10.007 [Google Scholar]
  27. Jiang, X., Li, Y., & Zhou, X.
    (2013) Is it over-respectful or disrespectful? Differential patterns of brain activity in perceiving pragmatic violation of social status information during utterance comprehension. Neuropsychologia, 51(11), 2210–2223. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.021
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.021 [Google Scholar]
  28. (2015) ERPs Reveal the Real Time Processing of Disrespectful Reference in Mandarin Utterance Comprehension. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on (Im) Politeness, 239–266. 10.1075/aals.14.12jia
     https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.14.12jia [Google Scholar]
  29. Kiaer, J.
    (2020) Pragmatic Particles, Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Kim, E. Y. A., & Brown, L.
    (2014) Negotiating pragmatic competence in computer mediated communication: The case of Korean address terms. Calico Journal, 31(3), 264–284. 10.11139/cj.31.3.264‑284
     https://doi.org/10.11139/cj.31.3.264-284 [Google Scholar]
  31. Kim, J. & Sells, P.
    (2007) Korean honorification: a kind of expressive meaning. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 16(4), 303–36. 10.1007/s10831‑007‑9014‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-007-9014-4 [Google Scholar]
  32. Kim, J -B., Sells, P. & Yang, J -H.
    (2006) Parsing Korean Honorification Phenomena in a Typed Feature Structure Grammar. Conference of the Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence. Canadian AI 2006: Advances in Artificial Intelligence, 254–265. 10.1007/11766247_22
     https://doi.org/10.1007/11766247_22 [Google Scholar]
  33. Kim, L. K.
    (2010) Korean Honorific Agreement too Guides Null Argument Resolution: Evidence from an Offline Study. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 16(1), Article 12.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Kim, Tae-yeop
    (2007) Hankwuke taywupep (Korean Honorifics). Seoul: Yeklak.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Kim-Renaud, Y., & Pak, M.
    (2006) Agreement in Korean syntax: A case of sentence final particles. Harvard International Symposium on Korean Linguistics, 111, 548–61.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Kutas, M., & Federmeier, K. D.
    (2011) Thirty years and counting: Finding meaning in the N400 component of the eventrelated brain potential (ERP). Annual Review of Psychology, 621,62147. 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.131123
     https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.131123 [Google Scholar]
  37. Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A.
    (1980) Reading senseless sentences: Brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity. Science, 207(4427), 203–205. 10.1126/science.7350657
     https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7350657 [Google Scholar]
  38. Kwon, N. & Sturt, P.
    (2016) Attraction effects in honorific agreement in Korean. Frontiers in Psychology, 71, 1302. 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01302
     https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01302 [Google Scholar]
  39. Leech, G.
    (2014) The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341386.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341386.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  40. Lee, C.
    (1996) Variation in the Use of Korean Honorific Verbal Endings: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study. PhD dissertation, Boston University.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Lee, I., & Ramsey, S. R.
    (2001) The Korean Language. Suny Press. 10.2307/jj.18252470
     https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18252470 [Google Scholar]
  42. Lee, J.
    (1999) Kwukekyengepep-uy cenlyakcek yongpep-ey tayhaye [On the strategic use of Korean honorifics]. Ehakhenkwu [Language Research], 35(1), 91–122.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Lee, M., Huh, S., & O’Grady, W.
    (2017) Korean subject honorifics: An experimental study. Journal of Pragmatics, 1171, 58–71. 10.1016/j.pragma.2017.06.001
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.06.001 [Google Scholar]
  44. Luck, S. J.
    (2014) An introduction to the event-related potential technique (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Matsumoto, Y.
    (1988) Reexamination of the Universality of Face: Politeness Phenomena in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics, 121, 403–426. 10.1016/0378‑2166(88)90003‑3
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(88)90003-3 [Google Scholar]
  46. Miyaoka, Y., & Tokimoto, S.
    (2017) Event-related Potentials (ERPs) Elicited by Japanese Honorifics. Research Bulletin of Hiroshima University of Economics, 40(3), 98. (10.18996/kenkyu2017400305)
     https://doi.org/10.18996/kenkyu2017400305 [Google Scholar]
  47. Nam, G. S., & Ko, Y. K.
    (1985/2011) Standard Korean Grammar, 3rd Edition. Seoul: Top Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Obana, Y., & Haugh, M.
    (2021) (Non-) propositional irony in Japanese–Impoliteness behind honorifics. Lingua, 103119. 10.1016/j.lingua.2021.103119
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2021.103119 [Google Scholar]
  49. Oh, S. J., & Sung, J. E.
    (2017) Age-related differences in ERP components during Korean honorific sentence processing depending on listener’s social status and predicate agreement. Communication Sciences & Disorders, 22(1), 101–116. 10.12963/csd.17378
     https://doi.org/10.12963/csd.17378 [Google Scholar]
  50. Osterhout, L. & Holcomb, P.
    (1992) Event-related brain potentials elicited by syntactic anomaly. Journal of Memory and Language, 311, 785–806. 10.1016/0749‑596X(92)90039‑Z
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(92)90039-Z [Google Scholar]
  51. Park, M. K., Cho, E., & Chung, W.
    (2015) Backward antecedent search of the null subject pronominal (pro) in Korean. Language Research, 511, 537–568.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Portner, P., Pak, M., & Zanuttini, R.
    (2019) The speaker-addressee relation at the syntax-semantics interface. Language, 95(1), 1–36. 10.1353/lan.2019.0008
     https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2019.0008 [Google Scholar]
  53. Rockwell, P.
    (2006) Sarcasm and Other Mixed Messages: The Ambiguous Ways People Use Language. Queenston, ON: Edwin Mellon Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Sakai, H., Harada, N., Yoshimura, M., Shiraishi, M., Tanaka, J., & Miyatani, M.
    (2006) Mismatch of social rank features elicits syntactic positive shift: An ERP study of Japanese honorific constructions, Poster presented atthe 19th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Sakai, H., Long, S., Luo, Y., & Sato, M.
    (2014) Computation for syntactic dependency at language–culture interface: A view from Japanese honorific processing. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 21, 179–179. 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.761
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.761 [Google Scholar]
  56. Song, S., Choe, J. & Oh, E.
    (2019) An Empirical Study of Honorific Mismatches in Korean. Language Sciences, 751, 47–71. 10.1016/j.langsci.2019.101238
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2019.101238 [Google Scholar]
  57. Sung, Ky-chull
    (1985) Hyentay taywupep yenkwu (Research on Contemporary Honorifics). Seoul: Kaymwunsa.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Taylor, C.
    (2011) Negative politeness forms and impoliteness functions in institutional discourse: a corpus-assisted approach. InB. Davies, M. Haugh & A. J. Merrison (Eds.), Situated Politeness. London: Continuum.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Van Berkum, J. J., Holleman, B., Nieuwland, M., Otten, M., & Murre, J.
    (2009) Right or wrong? The brain’s fast response to morally objectionable statements. Psychological Science, 20(9), 1092–1099. 10.1111/j.1467‑9280.2009.02411.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02411.x [Google Scholar]
  60. Van Berkum, J. J., Van den Brink, D., Tesink, C. M., Kos, M., & Hagoort, P.
    (2008) The neural integration of speaker and message. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 20(4), 580–591. 10.1162/jocn.2008.20054
     https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20054 [Google Scholar]
  61. Van den Brink, D., Van Berkum, J. J., Bastiaansen, M. C., Tesink, C. M., Kos, M., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hagoort, P.
    (2012) Empathy matters: ERP evidence for inter-individual differences in social language processing. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 7(2), 173–183. 10.1093/scan/nsq094
     https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq094 [Google Scholar]
  62. Wagers, M. W., Lau, E. F., & Phillips, C.
    (2009) Agreement attraction in comprehension: Representations and processes. Journal of memory and language, 61(2), 206–237. 10.1016/j.jml.2009.04.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2009.04.002 [Google Scholar]
  63. Wang, M. Y., & Min, H. S.
    (1993) Understanding Korean Grammar. Seoul: Gaemunsa Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Yeon, J. & Brown, L.
    (2011) Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar. London; New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Yoon, S.
    (2015) Korean Honorifics beyond Politeness Markers: Change of Footing through Shifting of Speech Style. InTerkourafi, M. (Ed.), Interdisciplinary Approaches to Im/politeness, 97–120. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 10.1075/aals.14.06seo
     https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.14.06seo [Google Scholar]
  66. Yun, S.
    1993 Honorific Agreement. PhD dissertation, University of Hawaii.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
Loading
An ERP study on the pragmatic processing of Korean honorifics and politeness
Korean Linguistics 21, 193 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
/content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
/content/journals/10.1075/kl.00012.jeo
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Korean honorific agreement; N400; neuropragmatics; P600; pragmatic concord

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error