Word Formation and the Socio-Cultural Characteristics of Chinese Neologisms: Focusing on Neologisms in 2017 and 2018

This study examined the word formation of Chinese neologisms in 2017 and 2018 and examined the social and cultural aspects of China reflected in these neologisms. First, through statistical analysis, the characteristics of Chinese neologisms’ etymology(어원), unit and word class, and the coined word method were examined. It can be seen that in Chinese neologisms, neologisms composed of Chinese(한어) made up the absolute majority of over 90%, and phrase units were the most. By statistically analyzing the field of use of Chinese neologisms, it was found that Chinese neologisms were the most generated in the economic field and showed an upward trend between 2017 and 2018. This paper is significant in that it analyzed the morphological, social and cultural characteristics of Chinese neologisms more closely based on statistical analysis. This thesis is expected to contribute in many areas such as Chinese language education and the field of sociolinguistics.