The present study examines the Korean cultural concept 눈치 as a linguistic manifestation of empathy in Korean communicative practices. While empathy has traditionally been explored within the fields of psychology and cognitive science, recent linguistic research has increasingly emphasized its role in shaping language use, interpersonal communication, and pragmatic competence. In Korean culture, 눈치 refers to the ability to perceive and interpret the emotional states, intentions, and expectations of others through contextual and often implicit cues. This study argues that 눈치 functions as a culturally specific mechanism of empathic communication that influences speakers' linguistic choices. The analysis focuses on the relationship between 눈치 and the use of honorifics, politeness strategies, indirect speech acts, and other pragmatic devices employed to maintain social harmony and interpersonal relationships. Drawing on a linguocultural and pragmatic approach, the paper demonstrates that empathy in Korean is encoded not only lexically but also through grammatical and discourse-level structures. The findings contribute to the understanding of empathy as a linguocultural phenomenon and highlight the significance of 눈치 in the Korean model of interpersonal communication.
The Concept Of 눈치 As A Linguistic Manifestation of Empathy in Korean Culture
DOI:
Keywords:
Abstract
References
Blum-Kulka S., House J., Kasper G. (Eds.). Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1989. 356 p.
Brown P., Levinson S.C. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. 345 p.
Byon A.S. The Korean Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 385 p.
Hall E.T. Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Press, 1976. 298 p.
Haugh M. Impoliteness and Taking Offense in Intercultural Communication. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2015. 310 p.
Haugh M., Kádár D.Z. Understanding Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 320 p.
Leech G.N. The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 343 p.
Lee I., Ramsey S.R. The Korean Language. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. 432 p.
Levinson S.C. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. 420 p.
Matsumoto Y. Reexamination of the universality of face: Politeness phenomena in Japanese // Journal of Pragmatics. 1988. Vol. 12, No. 4. P. 403–426.
Sharifian F. Cultural Linguistics. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2017. 187 p.
Sohn H.M. The Korean Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 530 p.
Sohn H.M. Korean Language in Culture and Society. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2019. 408 p.
Spencer-Oatey H. Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. 2nd ed. London: Continuum, 2008. 362 p.
Yoon K.E. Korean honorifics and interpersonal communication // Language Research. 2004. Vol. 40, No. 2. P. 527–551.