Syllable dependent loanword adaptation from English to Korean and Chinese

초록

Despite extensive research on loanword adaptation, the impact of linguistic characteristics and syllable counts on preferences for the phonetic transliteration and semantic paraphrases of loanwords remains insufficiently examined. Hence, this study investigated how these factors influenced preferences by administering a survey on 40 English loanwords with options for transliteration and paraphrases to 100 Korean and 100 Chinese participants. With minimal differences in syllable count, Koreans preferred phonetically oriented transliterations, whereas the Chinese preferred semantically oriented paraphrases. Shorter forms were favored for greater syllable-count disparities. These results indicate a preference for shorter transliterations in Korean and shorter paraphrases in Chinese, providing translation guidelines for various cultural, commercial, and linguistic contexts.

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