외래어 수용에 관한 임계사용자 가설 - 영어 외래어를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper's contribution to the literature of Linguistics consists primarily of the borrowing of useful analytical concepts such as critical mass' (from Physics), switching costs' and bandwagon effects' (both from Economics), and, for the first time, combining and adapting them to develop a new critical mass theory for linguistic analysis. In this context, critical mass refers to the minimum number of users of a foreign word that are required in order for the foreign word to be accepted as a loan word in such users' native language. The following phenomena, including their interactions with each other, are critical to the process of forming critical mass for loan word acceptance: (1) general bandwagon effect, (2) fad bandwagon effect, (3) switching costs, and (4) early-mover advantage.