한국언어과학회

This study comprehensively and statistically compares the use of Korean intensifying degree adverbs - “neomu”, “aju”, “maeu”, and “gajang”. It examines their distributional characteristics in terms of register, collexemes, and parts of speech of collexemes, using both corresponding and distinctive collexeme analysis methods. The corresponding analysis categorizes the four adverbs into three groups, pairing “gajang” and “maeu”. “Neomu” is preferred in private spoken contexts, “aju” in public spoken ones, and both “gajang” and “maeu” in written contexts. Adjective is the most common part of speech in the collexemes of these adverbs. However, the second most common part of speech varies: verbs for “neomu”, adverbs for “aju”, and copular phrases for both “gajang” and “maeu”. These three group distinctions are also observed among the collexemes themselves. Distinctive collexeme analysis reveals specific collexeme associations: “neomu” with psychological and physical states; “aju” with other intensifying adverbs and size; “gajang” with size and quantifiers; and “maeu” with height; “gajang” and “maeu” share similarities, as both have distinctive collexemes associated with logical or academic concepts.