Interpersonal grammar of Korean

Abstract This paper provides an account of interpersonal resources in Korean from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The focus is upon the paradigmatic interdependency of addressee deference, mood, stance and politeness , and the syntagmatic interaction of their realisations with polarity, modality, vocation and the participant deference in this language. Specifically, this paper puts two arguments forward. One is that the system of formality is fundamental in Korean. The system has two choices: formal and informal. mood and addressee deference belong to formal resources, and involve power-oriented language use. stance and politeness are informal resources, and involve solidarity-oriented language use. The other argument is that realisations of interpersonal resources are scattered across ranks in Korean. The paper advocates SFL’s top-down paradigmatic perspective, which enables us to pull resources together in an account that formalises their interdependency while respecting their divergent realisations.