This paper examines how chemical terminology in English is adapted into Korean. Particular attention is paid to the borrowing of the English voiceless interdental fricative, which does not exist as a phoneme in Korean. According to the general adaptation pattern, the voiceless interdental fricative in English should be borrowed into Korean as the tense coronal fricative, as in the case of “three”. However, when it comes to the adaptation of chemical terminology, it is not the tense coronal fricative but the aspirated coronal stop that appears in borrowed forms, as in the case of “methyl”. This paper discusses a possible account of this unique yet understudied adaptation pattern with abundant examples taken from the chemistry field, following the concept of hybrid loans (Kang et al. 2008). It also addresses an extension of the unique pattern in borrowing terminology in other academic fields, such as medicine and pharmacy.
1. Introduction
2. General Adaptation of the English <th> Sounds into Korean
3. Uniqueness in the Adaptation of /θ/ for Chemical Terminology
4. Extension
5. Conclusion
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