한국언어과학회

This paper discusses the semantic divergence of sentence-final particle ‘le’ and ‘de’ on synchronic plane, and explains the semantic and syntactic features of each variation. The main ideas are as follows: Sentence-final particle ‘le’ has four different variations, such as (1) Completion(realization) of the situation; (2) Change of the situation; (3) Contrast of two states or the departure from the standard; (4) Speaker's decision on a proposition. The ‘de’ on synchronic plane can be subdivided into three types of variation, such as : (1) Property of a noun as a nominalizer; (2) Property of a action, which is developed by analogy from the nominalizer marker; (3) Speaker's confirmation of a proposition. These evolutions have led to the different degree of grammaticalization among variations, and this is the very reason each variation showed differences in semantics and syntax.