What Part Are You Talking about? A Study of How Vague Expressions with Pubun (“Part”) Enhance Intersubjectivity in Korean Political Discourse (SANG-SEOK YOON)

Abstract
This study explores indexical meanings and pragmatic functions of the Korean noun pubun (“part”), especially when it is used as a bound noun to construct demonstrative pronoun structures. From a perspective of indexicality, our analysis shows that a major function of pubun is to avoid interpersonal conflicts by making it possible to construct and negotiate the meaning of what is being re...