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This paper aims to explain the semantic and pragmatic properties in building Polarity Item (PI) in Korean including Negative Polarity Item (NPI) and Positive Polarity Item (PPI). Above all, PI should be reconsidered as Standard Polarity Item and Semantico-pragmatic Polarity Item, which Fauconnier (1975) suggested. PI is based on a scale of a property and concessive. PI indicates the polar position on a scale and its position is located in the opposite side of what speakers mean. The opposite side of polar position is deeply related to the concession. This concession results in emphatic PI or understating PI, which are pragmatic functions of PI by Israel (1996, 2001, 2011). Emphatic PI is located in the polar position of its scale, but understating PI is near the reference point of the scale. So emphatic PI is typical, and context-free or context-dependent, while all understating PIs are context-dependent. Depending on the context, concession can be applied to the interpretation of understating PI which shows the politeness. As well, speakers can convey their intention effectively through the functions of PI, emphatic and understating.
