A study on the unexpected phonological change in the English loanwords in Korean from Japanese

Choi, Kyung-ae. 2012. A study on the unexpected phonological change in the English loanwords in Korean from Japanese. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 20(1). pp. 295-315. The purpose of this study is to inquire about sound change by tracing the transition of English loanwords in Korean, which came from Japan, from phonological and sociolinguistic perspectives. The Japanese-style English loanwords from an earlier period have been transformed into newly adjusted forms at a surprisingly rapid rate and many of them have shown unexpected sound changes which went against general Korean phonological rules. This shows that sound change is not necessarily expected to occur in accordance with language-specific phonological rules. It can occur through the political and sociological will of speakers against their native grammar at a surprisingly rapid rate.