A Comparative Study of the Syntax of Lee Soong-nyeong and Kim Soo-kyung - Focusing on Lee Soong-nyeong(1956) and Kim Soo-kyung(1955) -

This study focuses on Lee Sung-nyeong and Kim Soo-gyeong, who studied under the same teacher at Gyeongseong Imperial University during the colonial period and later emerged as prominent linguists in South and North Korea, respectively, during the Cold War. It examines their theories of syntax. For this analysis, the study investigates Lee Sung-nyeong's "Higher Korean Grammar" (1956) and Kim Soo-gyeong's "Korean Language Grammar" (1955), both published around the same time and targeting similar audiences. Like other Korean linguists of the early 20th century, Lee and Kim were influenced by Western linguistic theories, such as traditional grammar and structuralism. However, a distinctive aspect of their scholarship is the direct influence of Japanese linguistics through professors at Gyeongseong University, such as Okura Shinpei, a disciple of Ueda Kazutoshi, who established Japanese "national language studies," and Kobayashi Hideo, the first to translate Saussure (1916). While there has been some discussion regarding the phonological and morphological contributions of Lee Sung-nyeong and Kim Soo-gyeong in the history of Korean linguistics, their contributions to syntax have received little attention. This underscores the necessity of the present study. Although their research predominantly focused on phonology and morphology, a review of the syntax aspect is essential for a comprehensive understanding of their academic contributions. This study first examines how Lee and Kim adopted Saussure's (1916) framework in relation to their academic backgrounds and achievements, and subsequently analyzes the syntax systems presented in their respective grammar texts. Both texts exhibit a commonality of relatively low emphasis on syntax within their overall frameworks; however, they demonstrate significant differences in their definitions of sentences, subdivisions, and types and explanations of sentence components.