한국과 태국의 언어문화와 그 배경에 대한 일고찰

Abstract

Korea and Thailand are located in the same Asia and have a lot in common and considerable differences culturally and linguistically. This study attempted to examine the language cultures of the Korean language and the Thai language and analyze their backgrounds. In the clothing culture, in Korea, the name of the hat differs depending on the social status and the use, and due to the cold weather, people wear many pieces of clothing so the words expressing this have developed. In Thailand, however, due to the hot weather, there are many kinds of cloths that people wear on their head and body, so the words expressing this have developed. In food culture, in Korea, food centering on rice and kimchi has developed, so the words expressing this abound, but in Thailand, the food culture based on fish and stew has developed, so the words expressing this have diversely developed. In the housing culture, In Korea, there are many kinds of houses according to methods and forms of building houses, and the words related to this have developed, whereas in Thailand, the names of the houses differ depending on the occupants’ social position and status. The titles for relatives have developed more diversely in Korea than in Thailand, and particularly the names of relatives on the father’s side were far more than the names of relatives on the mother’s side. In the Korean language, there are very few words expressing social positions, whereas in the Thai language, many such words are still being used. It appears that the differences in language culture between Korea and Thailand are strongly influenced by climatic and geographical elements. The differences appear to be closely related to the cold weather in Korea and to the hot weather in Thailand, and the differences can be found in the backgrounds that Korea is based on the Confucian culture, whereas Thailand is based on the Buddhist culture.