현대한국어 호칭어의 역설:2차사회 내 늘어나는 친족어사용

Kim, HeeSook. 2003. A Paradoxical Usage of Kinslrip Address Tenns in Modem Korean. The Sociolinguistic journal of Koren, 11(1). Nobody cao doubt that South Korea has been rapidly modernizing not only economically but also socially. It is not too much to say that almost all facets of the South Korean society have been under what mxlernization is supposed to bring about such as openoess, simplification, etc. Language is not an exception. However, curiously, the address terms used in modern Korean seems to get complicated rather than simplified; simply put people tend to SRJIy much more address terms than before. For tlris phenomenon, South Koreans' widespread adoption of those terms which were used among the family members in the pre-modern period or their derivatives outside their families appears greatly respQ!lsible. In tlris paper, I by to tack1e tlris puzzle. I suggest that we cao attribute it to the Korean linguistic characteristic of not revealing subjects explicitly, the II'Oliferation of small businesses, the still influential high]y comp!ex honorific system and the general tendency to pursue gender-neutIal address terms in modern society. With tlris model, we couJd also forecast that at least in the short run, the seemingly contradictory trend of complicating address terms in Korean under ever-simplifying social hierarchy would continue.