Study of the morphological patterns of English loanwords in Korean and Italian

Abstract

Italian and Korean have been studied in depth linguistically, but comparative studies between these two languages are scarce. This paper aims to compare and contrast Italian and Korean from a morphological perspective since this field has not been extensively explored. Specifically, this study focuses on the morphological relationship between Italian and Korean and their use of English loanwords. To investigate the similarities and differences in how Italian and Korean borrow words from English, the research first examined the morphological characteristics of both languages, relying on existing literature. These characteristics helped reveal how each language's unique traits influence English loanwords and their application. The analysis found that, despite the differences in the morphological structures of Italian and Korean, most of their methods for coining English loanwords were quite similar. Furthermore, the research discovered that Korean tends to favor direct loanwords and what this paper defines as "half calques", while Italian prefers adapted loanwords and translational calques. The analysis proceeded by explaining the word formation process and providing corresponding examples. This study concludes by suggesting that comparing Italian and Korean linguistically is a valuable effort and that more detailed research in this area should be undertaken in the future.