한국어의 정서표현인 정(情)이란 단어의 의미 연구

라드니 타이슨

Toward Defining the Korean Emotion Word Ceng1:
A Cultural Models Approach

Rodney E. Tyson

Daejin University Faculty Papers, 5, 7-18.  1998.

Abstract

한국어에서 정서를 표현하는 정(情)이란 단어는 영어의 정서를 표현하는 단어로는 정확한 표현이 불가능하며 동일한 의미의 단어가 없다고 본다. 또한 정(情)이란 글자는 본래 한자어에서 유래해 한자를 사용하는 중국이나 일본에서도 역시 그들의 정서를 표현하는데 사용된다. 그러나 그들에게서는 발견되지 않는 독특한 문화적 차이가 한국어 문화권에서는 존재하고 있다. 한국어의 측면에서 보는 정(情)이란 단어의 이해와 정서를 고찰해 보기 위한 시도로서 9명의 한국인에게 설문서를 작성하도록 하였으며, 그들중 2명을 인터뷰하여 이 논문의 데이터로 사용하였다. 이 논문은 대략적으로나마 정(情)의 의미가 언어로써 설명이 가능하다는 것을 제안하고 있으며, 그 문화적 예(Cultural Model)로의 접근은 한국인들이 정(情)에 관해 공통적으로 갖고 있는 유사한 개념들로 구성되어 있다고 할 수 있다. 이 논문은 그 외에도 문화적 예(Cultural Model)의 이해에 관해 언급하고 있는데, 이에 관한 이해가 가능해지면 단순히 정(情)의 의미로서의 정의뿐만이 아니라, 그 단어와 함께 사용되는 상당수의 복합어, 관용구, 문학적 표제나 인용들까지도 보다 가깝게 그 의미를 이해할 수 있도록 하는데 그 목적이 있다. 　 1. Introduction: The Problem of Defining Ceng

        During my first visit to Korea in 1982, I went with a Korean friend to an exhibit at the National Museum of Modern Art in Seoul. As I walked around in a large room where fifty or so contemporary sculptures were on display, I began to notice something surprising. Several of the sculptures had the same simple title: Ceng (written either in the Korean alphabet, hankul [정], or with a Chinese character [情]). In addition, several others also included the word ceng (or the character 情)2 in their titles.
        I don't remember the titles exactly, but they may have been something like Onun Ceng Kanun Ceng 'Coming Ceng Going Ceng', Ceng Ttaymuney 'Because of Ceng', and Ceng Epsnun Salam 'A Person Without Ceng'.
        An idea occurred to me: If the word ceng was such a common part of the Korean language, maybe it would be something useful for me to remember. So I took a closer look at the English translations printed below the Korean titles. What I noticed then was even more astonishing to me than the fact that so many artists had chosen the same title for their works. Although I was not linguistically naive enough (even at that very early stage in my first attempt to learn a non-Indo-European language) to believe that there would always be a one-to-one relationship when a Korean word was translated into English, I had at least expected the translations to be similar. They were not. In fact, each of them was different. Some were translated as one word, some as short phrases, and one or two as complete sentences. But they were all different. How could one syllable have so many different meanings?
        I demanded an explanation from my friend. "Ceng means 'emotion'," she explained. Then ceng was a general term for feelings like love, hate, anger, happiness, depression. . . . "No, no. It's a single emotion. Something like 'love', I guess."
        Then you could say something like "Chelswu ceng-s Sanghuy," I suggested.
        "Well, not exactly," she said. "Why don't you look it up in your Korean-English dictionary?"
        I did. I opened my newly-purchased New Little English Dictionary (1981) and read the entry for ceng:

        I later found that other, more comprehensive dictionaries gave longer, but no more enlightening, definitions of the word ceng.
        In the years since my initial "discovery" of the word ceng, I have continued to encounter it regularly and still, sometimes, unexpectedly. Besides its use in a large number of compounds and idiomatic expressions, ceng appears often in the titles or texts of novels, short stories, essays, and especially, poems and songs. Koreans, also, seem to have difficulty explaining ceng, even to themselves. Jo Yong-Pil (Co Yong Phil), one of Korea's most popular singers, for example, sings a traditional song that many Koreans know by heart. The song, entitled simply Ceng (Jo, 1991), asks:         An essay, also entitled just Ceng (Kim, 1987), includes the following statement         As my competence in the Korean language increased over the years, I learned to understand and use (more or less appropriately) expressions including the word ceng: ceng tulta 'ceng develops' (i.e., 'grow fond of'), ceng issnun salam 'a person who has ceng', ceng epsnun salam 'a person who does not have ceng', kowun ceng 'beautiful ceng', miwun ceng 'ugly (detestable) ceng', etc. But as my understanding of Korean culture and way of thinking increased, I realized that it was still impossible for me to define or fully understand the concept itself.

2. Research Methodology

        To gain more understanding of what the word ceng means to Koreans, and what they mean when they use it, I decided to begin by simply asking some of them. The following analysis is based on the results of questionnaires consisting of nine open-ended questions concerning the definition and use of the word ceng completed by nine Koreans (six females and three males, ranging in age from 20 to 36), and follow-up interviews with one 30-year-old female and one 28-year-old male. The items included on the questionnaire, along with their English translations, are included in the appendix.
        All but one of the nine informants (a housewife) were students at a major university in the United States when the data were collected. Seven of the informants were from Seoul, and two were from Pusan--the largest and second-largest cities in Korea, respectively. All of the informants could be considered at least functionally bilingual in Korean and English, so although the questionnaire was in Korean, they were invited to write their answers in Korean, English, or a combination of the two. Except for one question (#6), which specifically asked for an answer in English, however, their written answers were almost entirely in Korean. The two interviews took place in a mixture of English and Korean, but most of the important discussion was in English. Each interview lasted about thirty to forty minutes. Notes were taken during the interviews, but they were not recorded.3

3. How Koreans Define Ceng: A Preliminary Definition

        The first question on the questionnaire asked the informants to write down the first thought that occurred to them when they saw or heard the word ceng. Overwhelmingly, their responses included many general, positive images: "warm," "soft and comfortable," "love," etc. Others recorded thoughts of specific people or specific types of relationships: "my mother," "old friends," "women" (from a single male), "the love between a man and a woman" (from another male), "the undying love between a parent and child" (from the only mother in the group), and "the spirit of our country's traditional women." This last response perhaps relates to the common image of the ideal traditional Korean woman as being extremely virtuous, patient, and willing to suffer and sacrifice for the good of her family (cf. the Korean expression hyen mo yang che [賢母良妻] 'wise mother and good wife'). A commonality among responses to this initial question was the total lack of any kind of negative or bad feeling or image.
        When asked (by questionnaire item #6) to list some English words or phrases that they felt were related to the Korean concept of ceng, the pattern continued. The most common word listed, by far, was "love." In fact, all of the women, and all but one of the men, listed "love" as a response to this item. Furthermore, four of the six women listed "love" as their first response, and two listed it as their only response. Other similar responses included "affection," "like," "concern," "friend," and "friendship." Other responses were more neutral--"feeling," "emotion," "relation"--but still far from suggesting anything other than a good, positive feeling toward another person. So far, from what the informants had written, then, it seemed that ceng might be easily and simply defined as follows: Ceng is an emotion involving a feeling of love, affection, or concern between two or more people in a friendly or intimate relationship.
        There were a few responses to these two questions, however, that suggested that this definition was not yet complete. The confusing responses, those that did not fit the general pattern so far, were the English words "everything," "coherence," and "non-individualism," and the following comments: "[Ceng is a part of] all meetings that occur between people" and "[Ceng] is a kkunkkun-han ('sticky' or 'persistent') feeling."

4. How Koreans Define Ceng: A Revised Definition

        When asked (by questionnaire item #2) to write a definition of ceng, only one person actually defined it as "love" (more precisely "endless love"), and one person defined it as "a feeling of affection." All of the other definitions identified other aspects as being more important. First, several informants began their definitions by asserting that ceng is the "most basic" Korean emotion and is an essential part of all human relationships: for example, "everything is achieved because of ceng," and "[ceng] is something that must be present in order for humanity to go on living." Second, most suggested in one way or another that ceng is "different from love": for example, "there is both beautiful...and ugly [or 'detestable'] ceng," or "because of ceng people have feelings of closeness and distance." Finally, two revealing words appeared over and over in their definitions: akkita 'to use sparingly' and kkunkkun-hata 'to be sticky' or 'to be persistent'.
        Akkita means to be concerned or careful about how something of value or rarity is used, or to conserve something. An informant explained in one of the follow-up interviews that people have to "be careful with ceng" for two reasons. First, as another informant wrote, "ceng is a feeling that builds up over time as people meet continuously." Therefore, it is extremely important to pick and choose the people with whom you associate and, perhaps, to control the amount of time you spend with them (thus, the use of the word akkita), because you may be building a more or less permanent relationship with those people, for better or for worse.
        This brings us to the second reason to be concerned about ceng--the idea that is expressed by the word kkunkkun-hata. Ceng is something that does not disappear easily (if ever); that is, it is "sticky" or "persistent." In another interview, an informant attempted to Westernize the idea of kkunkkun-hata for me:

        All of the informants seemed to feel that ceng is an important aspect of every type of human relationship (cf. question #3). As one person put it: "It's hard to say which [kind of relationship] is most important, because there's no special relationship where ceng is any more important than another." But when pressed (by question #5) to name some specific relationships in which they felt ceng is particularly important, they mentioned the following: between friends, family members, teacher and student, parent and child, husband and wife, classmates, and friends in the military. In addition, all of the informants admitted (in response to question #8) that they had "suffered" because of ceng at least "sometimes." One person wrote, for example: "There are times when you can't develop (go on with your life) because of ceng."
        The informants were split on the question (#4) of whether or not ceng is an emotion unique to Koreans (5 no, 4 yes). Some felt that it is a common feeling everywhere, but the terminology used to name it simply does not exist in some languages. Others suggested that it exists in Asian countries only, and one person thought that ceng may be more common in "less industrialized and less developed countries." The same person (who had several Mexican friends) also speculated that the Spanish expression Mi casa es su casa 'My house is your house', when said from the heart, may be an expression of ceng. Everyone, however, agreed that ceng is an important and everpresent element in Korean relationships.
        The responses discussed in this section start to describe another dimension of the emotion ceng, one that is different from the original definition describing a feeling of love or affection. Ceng is still a feeling, an emotion, but now it is a central part of every type of Korean relationship. Ceng can be a strong feeling of love, affection, or concern, but now it can also be a bad thing--it has the potential to cause suffering, pain, and harm.

5. How Koreans Use the Word Ceng

        Questionnaire item #7 asked the informants to list some Korean expressions including the word ceng. Many of the expressions they wrote came divided into natural pairs--one a positive feeling (e.g., beautiful, warm, strong, etc.), and one an opposite negative feeling (e.g., ugly, cool, weak, etc.). This suggests the following dichotomous relationship between terms and expressions included within the overall concept of ceng:

        Another common response to this item also reinforced the idea that ceng can be either a good or a bad thing. It involved the simple frame Ceng-ttaymuney ________'Because of ceng ________'.5 This frame can be completed in a variety of ways--some positive (e.g., Nay pumo-nim-uy ceng-ttaymuney salawassta 'Because of my parents' ceng, I have been able to go on living') and some negative (e.g., Ku nom-uy ceng-ttaymuney mang-hayssta 'Because of that bad person's ceng, I failed').
        At this point it is very tempting to stop and declare that ceng can be simply explained by the well-known Eastern philosophical principle known in Korean as um-yang (陰陽) (better known in the West as the Chinese yin-yang), that is, that everything in the universe can be divided into opposing forces: positive and negative, male and female, day and night, good and evil, and so on. The problem with this kind of explanation, however, is that all of the informants continued to insist that ceng is basically good.

6. Why Ceng Is Good (Even When It's Bad)

        "Cultural models" have been defined as "presupposed, taken-for-granted models of the world that are widely shared (although not necessarily to the exclusion of other alternative models) by the members of a society and that play an enormous role in their understanding of that world and their behavior in it" (Quinn & Holland, 1987, p. 4). What my informants told me in their written responses and verbal explanations begins to suggest a set of related beliefs that these Koreans share about ceng which, perhaps, can provide some insight into how Koreans organize their knowledge--consciously or unconsciously--about the concept, as well as how they use the word itself. In other words, these beliefs, taken together, may help to explain the underlying Korean cultural model of ceng, and thus, help to define the word ceng.
        First, all of the informants seemed to feel that CENG IS A BASIC AND INEVITABLE PART OF EVERY KOREAN RELATIONSHIP. It begins to develop as soon as you meet another person, and continues to grow stronger and stronger over time. Second, once it exists, it lasts forever; that is, CENG IS STICKY (KKUNKKUN-HATA). Third, therefore, CENG IS SOMETHING TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT (AKKITA); you should be extremely selective of the people with whom you develop relationships because there will always be a ("sticky" or "persistent") bond between you. This may be a beautiful thing--love, affection, concern, respect--or it may end up causing a great deal of pain and suffering--in the case of a bad relationship or a painful separation, for instance. In any case, ceng is an emotion to be conserved and allowed to develop only sparingly. Finally, because ceng is everpresent, ceng is sticky, and ceng is something to give and receive sparingly, CENG IS GOOD.
        A question remains at this point: How are Koreans able to make this last jump in logic? As one informant put it: "Ceng is the thing that is shared," suggesting, perhaps, that without it there could be no relationships and understanding between human beings at all. Another wrote that ceng is related to "non-individualism," perhaps suggesting in part at least that ceng is a bond that holds Korean people and society together. Furthermore, even the fact that ceng can cause suffering seems to be a good thing in many Koreans' minds. This makes people want to live the way they should, treat other people well, and choose their friends carefully. Finally, in the highly-stratified, Confucian-based Korean social system (see McBrian, 1978; Yum, 1988), awareness of ceng may help keep superiors from abusing their power and remind those in lower positions to respect their superiors.
        One informant gave the following example of a practical situation in which he thinks ceng is important and good:

Ceng seems to be very important between husband and wife. Nowadays, the divorce rate in Korea is 12.5% . . . [while] in the United States it is 50-60%.6 If you compare, it looks to me that it is because of ceng that people do not divorce so easily.         He explained further that, for Koreans, divorce is considered an especially bad thing. It not only separates a husband and wife and their children if they have any, but it also causes pain, suffering, and embarrassment for the couple's families, friends, and other acquaintances. And it is a bad thing for society in general. Ceng helps to hold people and relationships together, and in that way, provides a sense of security--and that is good.

7. Conclusion

        Although ceng is a very commonly used emotion word in Korean, this paper has, first of all, shown that even native-Korean speakers themselves fail to agree on a simple definition. Instead, data from the surveys, interviews, and other materials considered in this study suggest that a true "definition" for this word, if one is possible at all, may lie in a deeper understanding of its usage within its cultural context. Further analysis of the data suggests that the meaning of the word ceng can be explained, in part at least, by a series of (usually) unstated, related beliefs that underly a cultural model that many Koreans seems to share about the concept itself. Furthermore, it seems likely that tacit understanding of the cultural model not only helps to define the word ceng alone, but also makes it possible to understand the numerous compounds, phrases, and literary references in which the word commonly occurs.
 


NOTES

1The Yale system of Romanization is used throughout this paper (see Martin & Lee, 1986, p. 575).
2Although Korean and Chinese are members of unrelated language families, more than half of the modern Korean vocabulary consists of words either borrowed directly from Chinese or constructed from borrowed Chinese morphemes (see Park, 1989; Yi, 1975). Modern Korean is written either in the Korean alphabet, hankul, or a mixture of hankul and Chinese characters (see Gaur, 1992; Lukoff, 1982). Thus, ceng is referred to here both as a Korean "word" and as a (Chinese) "character."
3The quotes used in this paper represent either something actually written or spoken in English or a fairly literal translation from Korean.
4Essence Korean-English dictionary (1996) includes the following entry for ceng(-i) tulta: "grow fond (of); become attached (to); acquire affection (for); fall in love (with); become intimate (with)." The same dictionary defines ceng(-i) ttelecita as follows: "get disaffected (with); be disgusted (with); be sick (of)."
5It is interesting to note that "Ceng-ttaymuney" is also the title of a very popular, current television drama that appears on KBS. Both The Korea Herald (TV programs, 1997, October 28) and The Korea Times ([TV] Tuesday, 1997, October 27) translate the title of the program as "Because of Affection."
6These statistics represent only the informant's unofficial estimates.

　

REFERENCES
　
Essence Korean-English dictionary. (2nd ed.). (1996). Seoul: Minjungseorim.

Gaur, A. (1992). A history of writing. New York: Cross River Press.

Jo, Y.-P. (1991). Chang-pak-uy yeca (The woman outside the window). Seoul: Jigu Records.

Kim, T. K. (1987). Huntullinun tangsin-ul wihaye (For you when you are shaking). Seoul: Chayu Sidae.

Lukoff, F. (1982). A first reader in Korean writing in mixed script. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.

Martin, S. E., & Lee, Y.-S. G. (1986). Beginning Korean. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co.: Publishers.

McBrian, C. D. (1978). Language and social stratification: The case of a Confucian society. Anthropological Linguistics, 20(7), 320-326.

New little English dictionary. (1981). Seoul: Minjungseorim.

Park, F. Y. T. (1989). Speaking Korean: Book III. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International Corp.

Quinn, N., & Holland, D. (1987). Culture and cognition. In D. Holland & N. Quinn (Eds.), Cultural models in language and thought (pp. 3-40). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

TV programs: Tuesday, October 28. (1997, October 28). The Korea Herald, p. 13.

[TV] Tuesday, October 28. (1997, October 27). The Korea Times, p. 8.

Yi, K.-M. (1975). Language and writing systems in traditional Korea. In P. H. Lee (Ed.), The traditional culture and society of Korea: Art and literature (pp. 15-32). Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Center for Korean Studies.

Yum, J. O. (1988). The impact of Confucianism on interpersonal relationships and communication patterns in East Asia. Communication Monographs, 55(4), 374-388.
 
 

APPENDIX
　
Items Included on the Written Questionnaire


Age 연령_____________
Sex 성별: 남 (male) ____   여 (female) ____
 
 

1. 정(情)이란 단어를 듣거나 보았을 때 가장 먼저 떠오르는 것은 무엇입니까? 단어이든 문장 혹은 이야기이든 떠오르는 대로 적어 주십시오. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear or see the word ceng? Please write down a word, a sentence, or even a story.

2. 정(情)의 정의를 간략하게 내려 주십시오. Please briefly define ceng.

3. 한국인의 경우, 어떤 형식의 인간 관계에서든 정(情)은 존재한다고 보십니까? In the case of Koreans, do you think ceng exists in all types of relationships?

4. 세계의 모든 곳에서도 정(情)이 중요시된다고 보십니까, 아니면 정(情)이란 한국인에만 있는 독특한 것이라고 생각하십니까? Do you think ceng is important to people everywhere in the world, or do you think it is unique to Koreans?

5. 정(情)이 가장 중요한 인간 관계는 어떤 것이라고 보십니까? (예, 사제간, 부부간 등등) In what kind of relationships is ceng most important? (For example, between teacher and student, between husband and wife, etc.)

6. 한국인이 생각하는 정(情)이란 개념을 영어 단어로 적는다면 어떤 것들이 있을까요? 생각나는 대로 나열해 주십시오. List some English words that come to mind when you think of the Korean concept of ceng.

7. 정(情)이란 글자가 들어가는 표현을 생각나는 대로 적어 주십시오. List some Korean expressions that include the word ceng.

8. 본인은 평상시 인간 관계에 있어 정(情) 때문에 손해 보는 일이 많다고 생각하십니까? Do you think there have been many times in your everyday relationships with other people when you have suffered because of ceng?

9. 이상의 질문 외에 정(情)에 관한 어떤 것이든 저의 연구에 도움이 된다고 생각하시면 주저하지 마시고 적어 주십시오. Please include any other thoughts or comments you have about ceng that might help me to better understand it.

Curriculum Vitae