The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

In the 2022 presidential election we witnessed enormous political rhetorics including Korean shortened forms. Nowadays Korean shortened forms are widespread and continue to expand in a variety of fields such as politics, the economy, mass media, and culture. There are several reasons for this increasing popularity: imitation mentality, the iconicity principle, subtle connotations of idioms, pride and self-esteem in word coinage, efforts to reduce the generation gap, and a competitive spirit. However, we should be careful about using an excessive number of shortened forms in Korean especially when they are related to sexual discrimination, depreciation, offense, and mockery. Furthermore, we should try to preserve the original and beautiful nature of the Korean language.