Korean Kinship Terminology : A Semantic Analysis

Abstract

This is a semantic analysis of the kinship terminology in Korean. The aim is to find out what the minimum distinctive features2 are and to see how they are combined in some of the terms. The idea of componential or feature analysis in the semantic study of the kinship terminology is analogous to the phonemic concept. One characteristic of a phonemic transcription is that it "allows a smaller number of symbols in the transcription" and "provides a description of allophonic variation in a set of rules," hence reducing the redundancy of a transcription. 3 Such generalization inherent m the phonemic concept is analogous to generalization in componential analysis of the semantic features involved in the kinship terminology. If it is possible to employ a set of symbols denoting the semantic components from which a set of symbols may be selected to be combined and represent the meaning of a word or a morpheme, representation of the meanings of all the terms involved becomes possible in terms of the limited and hopefully smaller number of component symbols.