영어 목적어 경험자 심리동사 연구

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the prototypes of English Object-Experiencer (OE) psych verbs based on corpus-based investigation and psycholinguistic experiments. Furthermore, this study attempts to figure out how Korean learners of English conceptualize OE psych verbs by comparing the empirical data of native English speakers’ and those of Korean learners’. OE psych verbs can have two prototypes. If the prototype of the OE psych verbs has a stimulus subject, then the verb form will be -ing. However, the prototype has an experiencer subject, then the verb form will be –ed. To figure out which of the two structures is the prototypical one, this study selected twelve of the most frequently used OE psych verbs, and then analyzed the frequencies of ‘–ing’ and ‘–ed’ forms of each OE psych verb in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), a native English speaker corpus and Gachon Corpus, a learner corpus. Moreover, psycholinguistic experiments were conducted to find out the psycholinguistic aspect of language users about the use of OE psych verbs and to complement the corpus study. The results of the COCA-based investigation and the experiments of native speakers show that the twelve English psych verbs, such as surprise, amuse, excite, embarrass, interest, frighten, shock, bore, tire, exhaust, satisfy, and please, are divided into two categories: ‘-ing predominance’ verbs and ‘–ed predominance’ verbs. Regarding the two categories, this study suggests that the psych verbs showing the principal emotions, i.e., surprise, satisfy, and please are ‘–ed predominance’ verbs and the psych verbs showing the secondary emotions, i.e., interest, excite, and bore, are ‘-ing predominance’ verbs. The results of Gacheon Corpus-based investigation and the experiments of Korean learners show that Korean learners of English acquired the similar prototype concepts about OE psych verbs as shown in native English speakers’ analysis. It seems that the distribution of the native English speakers’ OE psych verbs was reflected in the textbooks Korean learners are exposed to. Also, language users’ universal intuitions related to emotions seem to work on those classifications of the prototypical sense of OE psych verbs. Regarding differences between native speakers and non-native speakers, it is suggested that Korean learners of English tend to use one form continuously, once chosen, which is called fossilization, leading to erroneous use of psych verbs.