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Distributional Characteristics and Semantic Shifts of Phonemic Loanwords in Modern Chinese

  • The Journal of Study on Language and Culture of Korea and China
  • Abbr : JSLCKC
  • 2016, (42), pp.107-130
  • DOI : 10.16874/jslckc.2016..42.005
  • Publisher : Korean Society of Study on Chinese Languge and Culture
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature
  • Published : October 31, 2016

Kim Sok Yong 1

1한국교원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article aims to examine the validity of the known (widely accepted) tendency that the modern Chinese language prefers semantic loanwords to phonemic loanwords, by looking into the types and distributional characteristics of phonemic loanwords. It also attempts to study the loadwords that are still alive among the most commonly used words, focusing on the semantic shifts that they underwent in the process of becoming part of Chinese. To this end, this paper sampled 264 phonemic loanwords from the Lexicon of common words in contemporary Chinese (2008) and investigated the distributional features and semantic shifts of them, with the focus on their meanings and the fields they were used in. As a result, it was found that the majority of the loadwords were those used in specific areas, such as proper nouns (e.g., names of ethnic groups), units of measurement and currency, names of animals and plants, chemistry-related nouns, and religion-related vocabulary. Also, it was observed that most of these words did not go through significant semantic shifts in the process of getting adapted to the Chinese language. Apart from these words, semantic alteration was discovered in some loanwords, such as reduction, extention, transfer, deterioration, and amelioration.

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