earticle

영어

This study aimed to investigate the difference between Korean English learners and English native speakers in terms of the use and awareness of pragmatic functions of English swearwords. 78 Korean English learners and 30 English native speakers participated in the study and two questionnaires designed to examine the use and pragmatic functions of English swearwords were implemented. Results from the analysis of One-way ANOVA and Chi-square revealed that Korean English learners were aware of various types of English swearwords although they perceived the offensiveness of English swearwords differently compared to that of English native speakers, that the preference of English swearwords of Korean English learners was different from that of English native speakers when power and distance are involved in the discourse, and that the awareness of pragmatic functions (i.e. closeness, forcefulness and offensiveness) of swearwords differed between Korean English learners and English native speakers. The directions of further studies were discussed with the limitations of this study.