A Study on The Differentiation of Synonyms Through Semantic Preferences of Korean Lexical Combination - Focusing on ‘무섭다(musʌpta)’, and ‘두렵다(turyʌpta)’ -

Abstract

The learning of synonyms helps Korean learners to use vocabulary accurately and precisely, to improve their vocabulary. However, the opportunity to encounter various words with synonymous relation for foreign learners is few and because their intuition is still developing, they may experience difficulties in differentiating and using synonyms. The aim of this study is to identify semantic preferences based on existing research of semantic categories of the combination relation of vocabulary and use this to help in the semantic distinction of synonyms. Using a corpus, each lexical combination aspect of synonym families was identified and by conducting an analysis of synonyms and lexical combination, the tendencies were also identified. Therefore, this type of study can provide important information in compiling a dictionary and be used in a vocabulary education setting.