This study aims to examine the public's perception of the appropriateness of metaphorical expressions used by medical professionals in medical discourse. A sample of 142 individuals were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of ten metaphorical expressions used by health-care experts. Additionally, questions were posed about the effects of using metaphors. The ten items showed variability in the degree of appropriateness, with metaphors being considered more appropriate when the target was familiar and the similarity between the source and target domains was high. Positive aspects of metaphor use by medical professionals included aiding in understanding, with respondents perceiving such professionals as kind, considerate of patients, and trustworthy. Negative aspects included difficulties in understanding when the similarity between the metaphorical targets was low, requiring lengthy and complex thought processes, and potential misunderstandings of scientific facts. Approximately 15% of respondents reported their own experiences with metaphorical expressions in medical discourse, noting that these metaphors helped them understand the illness and treatment, and induced positive behavioral changes.

Hong miju. (2023). “Phonological Variation in Messenger Conversations-Conversations of Female Speakers in Seoul 30-50s, Korea, in Their 30-50s”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 31(2), 125-155. This study aimed to identify the phonological variation in the messenger conversations of female speakers in their 30-50s. In addition, we compared the phonological variation of speakers in their teens and twenties. To this end, we divided phonological variation into replacement, addition, elision, and contraction in the National Institute of the Korean Language messenger corpus and presented the degree of realization using quantitative methods. As a result, we found that replacements accounted for a significant proportion of phonological changes in messenger conversations of people in their 30s and 50s, with a large proportion of vowel replacements and a variety of types. Among the vowel replacements, the degree of vowel rising and labialization was high. In addition to the phonological variants in Messenger conversations reflecting spoken pronunciation, we also observed a number of variants that are not realized in spoken language. In terms of age, the types of vowel replacement, consonant replacement, vowel addition, and consonant addition were more varied in the conversations of 30-50 year olds, while the variation of replacing a plain vowel with a labialized vowel was more active in the conversations of 10-20 year olds.

This paper examines the extended usage of ‘jagi’ to analyze to what extent and in what contexts ‘jagi’ is being used, and assesses the speaker's attitude toward it. Furthermore, this paper discuss the role played by women in the extended usage of ‘jagi’. For the purpose of this study, 117 adult males and females living in Daegu have been surveyed. The results of the survey have been analyzed to identify speakers' knowledge of and attitude toward ‘jagi’. Findings can be summarized as follows. First, ‘jagi’ is used as an intimate term of address for spouses and couples. More recently, it has also been used as a term of address between speaker and listener who are not involved in such relationships. Second, the typical usage of ‘jagi’ is its use among same-age women or lower class female speakers. Third, while many of the users of ‘jagi’ are women, there also are men using it. Fourth, the use of ‘jagi’ by younger speakers when speaking to older interlocutors is not an accepted usage. Fifth, the way men perceive and use ‘jagi’ differs from the way women do. For male speakers, there is no gender distinction between the speaker and the listener when using ‘jagi’, whereas women perceive it as being most commonly used by female speakers. Sixth, the use of ‘jagi’ has been extended from female to male speakers. More specifically, the new usage of the word was first advocated by women, who then played a key role in changing the use of ‘jagi’. The extension of the scope of speakers for ‘jagi’ can be considered within two different dimensions. On the one hand, the use of ‘jagi’ as an equivalent to the second-person pronoun by couples was extended to its usage as a general second-person pronoun by other types of interlocutors. On the other hand, if ‘jagi’ was initially mostly used by and among female speakers, the range of users was extended to male speakers and listeners.

Hong Mi-ju. 2014. A Study of phonological variation and Language Attitude of Word-initial tensification. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 22(1). The purpose of this study is to contemplate the correlation between phonological variation and language attitude. It focuses specifically on explaining the phonological variation of word-initial tensification and Language attitude of variant [fortis]. Data have been collected from 30 informants who live in Daegu through interviews and questionnaires. This variable is examined and analysed to see how the variants are realized depending on the factors of informants' age and gender. The phonological variation based on the age and gender of word-initial tensification and language attitude of variant [fortis] are summarized as below: Fortis realization rate in word-initial does not have any significant value for age and gender. However, fortis phenomenon in word-initial is quite prevalent. Language attitude of variant [fortis] for age and gender does not have any significant difference. The greater number of speakers have positive attitude of variant [fortis]. The greater number of informants express willingness to support realization of variant [fortis] Several observation in few paragraphs have shown that if the speakers' s language attitude of a variant is positive, realization rate of a variant is more frequently. These result lead to the conclusion that there is correlation between phonological variation and language attitude of word-initial tensification.

The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 14(1). The objective of this study was to investigate university students's pronunciation, their knowledge of standard pronunciation, attitudes toward standard pronunciation through a questionnaire on the relation between actual pronunciation and attitudes toward standard pronunciation. Analysis of the questionnaire shows several notable results. University students make nonstandard pronunciation such as ㅅ→ㅆ, ㅈ→ㅉ in initial positions and in consonant clusters of a declinable word stem ㄺ→ㄹ, ㄼ→ㄹ. University students also show a good knowledge of orthoepy. They tend to think that people should follow orthoepy as much as possible but at the same time, people can make use of nonstandard pronunciation if the pronunciation is easier for speaker. The result on attitudes toward orthoepy showed that if a speaker's own pronunciation corresponds with standard pronunciation, people think they should observe orthoepy. Results regarding the pronunciation of consonant clusters of a declinable word stem ㄺ→ㄹ, ㄼ →ㄹ, suggest that standard pronunciation of a declinable word stem ending in ㄺ, ㄼ should be modified.

Hong, Mi-ju. 2006. A Study on the Relation between Actual Pronunciation and Attitudes toward Standard Pronunciation. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 14(1). The objective of this study was to investigate university students's pronunciation, their knowledge of standard pronunciation, attitudes toward standard pronunciation through a questionnaire on the relation between actual pronunciation and attitudes toward standard pronunciation. Analysis of the questionnaire shows several notable results. University students make nonstandard pronunciation such as ㅅ→ㅆ, ㅈ→ㅉ in initial positions and in consonant clusters of a declinable word stem ㄺ→ㄹ, ㄼ→ㄹ. University students also show a good knowledge of orthoepy. They tend to think that people should follow orthoepy as much as possible but at the same time, people can make use of nonstandard pronunciation if the pronunciation is easier for speaker. The result on attitudes toward orthoepy showed that if a speaker's own pronunciation corresponds with standard pronunciation, people think they should observe orthoepy. Results regarding the pronunciation of consonant clusters of a declinable word stem ㄺ→ㄹ, ㄼ →ㄹ, suggest that standard pronunciation of a declinable word stem ending in ㄺ, ㄼ should be modified.