Sociocultural profile of Koreanized English words

ABSTRACT

This article aims to illustrate how Koreanized English words capture the dynamic sociocultural and sociolinguistic façade of South Korea. The examples were taken from a few sociocultural contexts: education, relationships and eating culture. Korean speakers creatively navigate between two linguistic codes (Korean and English) to express novel meanings and describe sociocultural changes and innovations in Korean society. It is possible that such lexical items may not be intuitively recognized by English speakers outside Korea or those who are not familiar with the Korean lifestyle. However, by analyzing the trajectories of Koreanized English words we can gain insight into the correlation between Korean society and language use, and eventually better understand Korean use of the English language. This article also briefly discusses main word-formation trends in the creation of Koreanized English words.

KEYWORDS:

• language contact
• Asian Englishes
• Korean English
• Koreanized English words

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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