XPN: Prefix_nounal (체언 접두사)

Definition

XPN refers to an affix that attaches to the front of a noun and modifies or refines its meaning.

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Characteristics

• XPN always appears before a noun and cannot function independently, so it is primarily parsed in the form of ‘XPN+NNG (Noun_common, 보통 명사).’
• XPN modifies the meaning of the base noun, adding various nuances such as emphasis, categorization, or negation.
• Examples:
  • 늦여름에 태풍이 왔습니다.
  • 드라마에서 여주인공이 남주인공과 만났다.
  • 가격은 공급에 반비례합니다.

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Boundary cases and clarifications

Special cases

• Distinguishing XPN from MM(Determiner, 관형사):
  • Both XPN and MM modify nouns, making it difficult to determine whether a word is a derived form (XPN+NNG) or a compound form (MM+NNG) based solely on grammatical function.
  • Similarly, distinguishing between compound nouns (NNG+NNG)—especially when the first noun is monosyllabic and semantically modifies the second noun—and derived forms (XPN+NNG) can be challenging.
  • In such cases, dictionary classification takes priority, but some words may be tagged differently from their dictionary-defined parts of speech.
    • XPN:
      • 풋과일이 익을 때까지 기다린다.
      • 한식당에서 한식을 먹었습니다. (According to the dictionary, ‘한’ refers to ‘Korea’ as a noun.)
    • MM: 친구의 첫인상은 귀여웠다.

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Examples

• 한식당에서 한식을 먹었습니다.
• 늦여름부터 초가을까지 태풍이 여러 차례 왔습니다.
• 재작년에 동생과 한국으로 여행을 다녀왔다.
• 대구 근처에 있는 갯바위에 갔다 왔다.