The Ubiquity of the Gloss

• 발행기관: 훈민정음학회
• 저자명: John Whitman
• 간행물 정보: 『Scripta』Volume.3, 95~121쪽, 전체 27쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 언어학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2011.08.30

영문 초록

This paper argues that glossing is an essential stage in the borrowing of writing systems. I use the term “glossing” in a somewhat extended sense to refer to a process where a text in one language is prepared (annotated, marked) to be read in another. I argue that this process of “vernacular reading” – reading a text written in the script, orthography, lexicon and grammar of a more prestigious “cosmopolitan” language out loud in the vernacular language – has been a standard and widespread process throughout the history of written languages. The fact that reading, throughout its history, has generally been an oral practice plays an important role in this argument. I suggest that many cases where a cosmopolitan language seems to supplant a vernacular written language are of exactly this type: the cosmopolitan text is in fact read in the vernacular; glossing is evidence for this. I discuss kugyŏl glossing in Korea and kunten glossing in Japan and the historical relationship between them. I introduce examples of glossing from medieval Europe to show that this type of glossing practice is by no means unique to East Asia.

목차

1. Background

2. The Cosmopolitan and the Vernacular in Korea

3. Cosmopolitan Form, Vernacular Practice

4. Glossing Practice in Korea and Japan

5. Glossing in the Medieval West

6. Conclusion

키워드

classical Chinese cosmopolitan gloss glossing Korean language kugyŏ l kunten vernacular Sinosphere