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영어

The purpose of this paper is to investigate idioms in English and Korean and to find out how the different cultural elements are melted in them. Idioms can be defined as an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements. In most cases of Idioms, metaphor can be found. Metaphor is formed by the processes of substitution, comparison, and interaction which Black suggested. When we say ‘A is B’, we can infer and provide some kind of resemblance on the basis of their semantic properties. With the associated commonplaces a metaphor is formed. To interpret metaphors we need to understand not only the literal meanings but also facts about the world, such as historical, social, and cultural ones. In this paper I consider that cultural elements are melted in the idioms. The Kluckhohn’s cultural model was used as a criterion to the analysis of the idioms, which led to the following conclusion. Through the analysis of idioms the American and Korean Value Systems can be identified in the same way that they were found in the previous studies. In Human Nature, average Americans are generally optimistic, trying to believe the best about a person. In their relationship to Nature, they see that a clear separation exists between humans and nature, and humans are considered to be in charge. As for Time, Americans has a dominating belief in progress, future-oriented. Concerning Activity, they are action-oriented. Their Social orientation is toward the importance of the individualism and the equality of all people. The American value system can be shown as follows.