A Study on the Semantic Expansion Model of the Korean Expression ‘-eo beorida’ and Learner Usage Patterns : Focusing on Metonymy Theory

This study aims to systematically analyze the semantic expansion process of the Korean expression ‘-eo beorida’ based on metonymy theory, propose a model for this expansion, and examine learners’ usage patterns in detail. ‘-eo beorida’ is an intermediate-level expression with complex meanings that reflect not only the “end of an action” but also the speaker’s psychological attitude and expectations. Existing studies in Korean linguistics have primarily focused on the function and meaning of this expression but have not addressed the cognitive mechanisms by which learners discern multiple meanings or the semantic expansion process during grammar acquisition. Consequently, when confronted with complex grammatical expressions that carry multiple meanings, learners often fail to understand them accurately, leading to errors or a tendency to avoid using the expression. To address these limitations, this study applies metonymy theory from a cognitive linguistic perspective to elucidate the semantic expansion process of ‘-eo beorida’ and investigates learners’ tendencies in semantic acquisition by integrating the results of learner corpus analysis with the proposed model. Furthermore, by analyzing the characteristics of Chinese learners through a comparative study of the entire learner group and the Chinese learner group, the study identifies meaning acquisition patterns specific to learners from a particular language background and provides foundational data for future research. (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)