Interpreting Indirect Speech Acts in Korean Dialects:An Experimental Study

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Indirect speech acts, in which a speaker’s intended meaning differs from the literal content of an utterance, often give rise to variable interpretations. While previous experimental research has found such variability, little is known about how it is shaped by regional dialects. The present study examines the interpretation of indirect speech acts in Korean dialects, focusing on Chungcheong-style indirect utterances and comparing Chungcheong and Seoul speakers. A pilot study was conducted to select items eliciting relatively stable interpretations, which were then used in a main experiment measuring interpretation choices and confidence ratings. Mixed-effects analyses revealed the effects of speech act type and an interaction between dialect group and speech act type. Notably, indirect requests showed greater interpretive dispersion among Chungcheong speakers than among Seoul speakers. These findings suggest that indirectness may be better understood as a set of pragmatic choices whose interpretation varies systematically across dialect groups.