“Language and Culture of Expressions Related to Infectious Diseases in Korean Society: Focused on Dictionaries”.
The purpose of this study was to examine the language and culture of infectious diseases in Korean society through related expressions. Accordingly, four kinds of Korean dictionaries were investigated, and the results were examined by dividing relevant expressions into epidemic-related vocabularies and infectious disease-related case statements. First, examination of epidemic-related vocabulary found that most names of infectious diseases were expressed using Chinese characters and English loanwords. Since each infectious disease name has several synonyms, Koreans have referred to major infectious diseases by a variety of names. The names of infectious diseases were mainly reflect such information as the causes, routes of transmission, and symptoms of infection, as well as attitudes toward how to deal with the diseases. Second, the examination of case statements related to infectious diseases showed that the disease with the most example sentences was COVID-19, which recently started and has not yet ended. Case statements related to infectious diseases can be broadly divided into four categories: the designation of infectious diseases, fear of infectious diseases, patients with infectious diseases, and places of infection. In addition, we found we found that patients with infectious diseases and places of infection generated negative perceptions and expressions.