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Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Problems in Korean Refinement

  • The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea
  • Abbr : 사회언어학
  • 2003, 11(2), pp.187-214
  • Publisher : The Sociolinguistic Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > Linguistics

Lee Jeongbok 1

1대구대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

Lee, Jeongbok. 2003. Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Problems in Korean Refinement. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). This paper examines 25,000 Korean words that government agencies have refined since the 1990's. The principles of choosing words to refine and making words to replace are critically examined. This work suggests the following. When words to refine are selected, those words should be chosen that are now used or needs to be used. The generation and social class of speakers who mainly use the words to refine should be also considered. Additionally the words should be selected that share a common feature in terms of form, meaning, and usage. When words are selected that are tied to another country's cultural characteristic, there must not be any discrimination among languages.A number of suitable words should be made ready for various linguistic contexts when refining words. We must not literally translate words that reflect a peculiar culture of another country, and must make new words that match well with our cultural and social characteristics. It is undesirable to make refined words that can cause insults to disabled persons and confrontations among social classes. Sex discrimination among genders visible in the society should not be reflected in refined words. It is stressed that what is most important is our attempt to base our language refinement on the actual language use of speakers.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.