The establishment of the identity of the Korean language has risen as a critical issue as more and more loanwords become part of Korean. Even though loanwords can make contributions to Korean as they enrich the Korean vocabulary and add fresh expressi...
The establishment of the identity of the Korean language has risen as a critical issue as more and more loanwords become part of Korean. Even though loanwords can make contributions to Korean as they enrich the Korean vocabulary and add fresh expressions to the language, it is still the fact that they can bring a confusion to the system of Korean and add impure elements to the desirable everyday use of the language.
This study set out to investigate the current state and characteristics of the Western loanwords, which have been accused of impairing the pureness of the Korean language. The medium chosen for the study was a daily news(Dong-a Ilbo, from November 1, 2002 to April 31, 2003). The uses of the Western loanwords were analyzed in each section(politics, economy, culture, society, the reader's column and editorials/comments, and sports).
The politics section didn't show as many cases of loanwords as the other sections. Dealing with heavy subjects like the national political world, it restricted itself in its uses of loanwords.
The economy section was using considerably more loanwords than the other sections. Usually, the section reflects the recent economic flows. The increasing interest in computer communication, development of electronics, and investment resulted in many uses of the loanwords that were related to them. There were spotted some technical new words, whose meanings couldn't be easily understood.
The culture section used the loanwords across the cultural fields including music, dance, arts, and literature, which showed brisk cultural changes with foreign countries.
The society section covered the general social phenomena, events and accidents, and issues. Besides the English loanwords, it showed a variety of uses of loanwords that came from German, Japanese, Dutch, French, Italian, and Russian.
The reader's column used such loanwords as used on everyday basis and thus could be easily understood. But the loanwords used in the editorials and comments were clearly different from those in the reader's column in that they were technical and difficult to understand. This tendency has something to do with the social status of the writer. The higher one's social status is, the more he or she is likely to use loanwords or foreign words.
Finally, the sports section was using those terms that were more foreign words than loanwords, which resulted from the recent trend to use loanwords or foreign words in Korean without even trying to refine them. The loanwords in the section were mostly related to sports games and thus their uses were limited within the sports areas.
The characteristics of the uses of loanwords in each section were summarized as follows;
First, the uses of loanwords were examined in each section of 'politics, economy, society, culture, the reader's column and editorials/comments, and sports' in order to understand them in terms of the trends and tendencies of the fields.
Second, in general, English loanwords were most found. But other loanwords from German, French, Italian, and so on were used according to the areas.
Third, the compound of a loanword / a loanword was found to be productive. Shortened words and abbreviations were also characteristic.
Fourth, the sports section used the most loanwords, being followed by the economy and society section.
It's natural that a foreign culture is brought in along with its words. Accordingly, the portion of loanwords in Korean will grow bigger in the future. In this flood of loanwords, the vitality of the Korean language is getting weaker, which calls for our efforts to love it and make the right use of it. When it's inevitable to use a loanword, we should try to substitute it with a Korean word and follow the correct transcription as much as possible.
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