Conventionalization and legitimization of lexical borrowings (on the example of the English-Korean language pair)

Lexical borrowings are considered to be one of the most widespread manifestations of linguistic interference. The linguistic innovations identified in the context of linguistic interference are associated with the transformation of existing knowledge structures that are shared within society and are influenced by socio-cultural phenomena. The different ways in which linguistic interference is fixed in the consciousness of speakers of the receiving language are also reflected in the nature of codification. Therefore, systemic interference results in the transfer and consolidation of knowledge structures in the general fund of knowledge about language (fixation in dictionaries and grammars as a linguistic norm, i.e. legitimisation). Meanwhile, functional interference does not always imply fixation in the general fund of knowledge as a linguistic norm and correlates with legitimisation (i.e. social codification). The purpose of this article is to study the mechanisms and specifics of codification processes of lexical borrowings in the language pair of Korean (South Korean variant) and English. It is important to note the marked asymmetry observed in both lexical borrowing processes (in terms of the number of borrowings recorded in dictionaries and the range of knowledge fields in which new words are borrowed) and codification processes in this language pair. The Republic of Korea has demonstrated a clear commitment to the active legitimisation and conventionalisation of Anglicisms within the national language. This phenomenon is widely considered to be a reflection of the significant role of English as a source of neologisation, as well as the intensity of interference occurring in the English→Korean direction. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has recorded a small number of Korean loanwords in the USA (less than 0.01% of the total number of dictionary entries). However, the increasing processes of social codification attracted by the influence of the phenomena known as the Korean wave .