Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jetrash]

Linguistic constructions of modernity: English mixing in Korean television commercials

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=6&fid=365208&jid=&volumeId=&issueId=01&aid=365206&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0047404506060039

A very interesting paper on konglish/english use in korean tv/advertising/media...how it is used and why it is distorted into a hybrid language.
I have been trying to work the reason behind story on,dream life etc etc hybrid taglines for a while.

[Smee]

Ah, yes, from the Journal of Self-Evident Results. There have been journal articles making that point since 1998, and considering the findings here were based on 4 hours of film from 2002, I think we can safely say that this academic has pointed out what anybody in-country for 3 days has surmised.

[jetrash]

oh sorry,you knew all this stuff,at this level of detail,already?

ie:
Two major categories, Korean-only (KO) and English mixed (EM), will be contrasted. KO includes commercials aired in exclusively Korean as well as Sino-Korean (Hanca, or Chinese-character-based Korean). There was such a paucity of TV commercials with mixed second languages other than English that they were not included in the data. English-only commercials constitute only a fraction of the corpus, and therefore they are not discussed in this article. The analysis centers on EM, which constitutes the majority of the data, and its comparison with KO. This dichotomous treatment of KO and EM is critical in establishing evidence for my major argument that EM commercials are designed to engage viewers and consumers in the process of constructing identities of modernity, whereas KO commercials are not.

The corpus of 720 advertising spots was first classified according to which language code was used, KO or EM. Then each category was investigated further regarding what product was featured. Since this study essentially draws on comparative aspects of KO and EM commercials, only the categories of products that were advertised in both KO and EM, found in a total of 267 advertising spots, were subject to further investigation in terms of their endorsed messages and featured characters.

Three subcategories common to KO and EM emerged from the corpus. I call these TECHNOLOGY, GENDER ROLES, and TASTE 8 AS A CULTURAL FORM. Technology includes any industrial mechanical or electronic products, such as cars, computers, or cellular phones. Gender roles include commercials that contain statements or messages regarding gender differences and representations of males or females by using gender-related lexical items such as woman or man. Taste includes beverage commercials such as those for coffee and alcoholic drinks. Some commercials might fall into more than one category. For example, a gas oven commercial with female spokespersons can be classified in both technology and gender roles simultaneously. When this occurred, the decision was made based on the main advertising copy or voice-over. That is, if the main copy of a commercial for gas ovens made specific reference to female roles, it was classified as gender roles rather than technology. This occasionally arguable classification does not pose a threat to the main theoretical claim that knowledge and use of English in South Korea is a defining linguistic expression of modernity, since the association of English mixing with modern identity construction is maintained across all three domains of advertising discussed.

Before delving into an individual discussion of the three domains (technology, gender roles, and taste as a culture form) of advertising discourse, I analyzed contrasting characteristics between KO and EM commercials, first in terms of the identities featured in each category. This overview of dissimilar identities serves as critical supporting evidence for a connection between language codes and their promoted identities.

[moosehead]

and please pray tell what kind of English is it Koreans use in their textbooks they develop for use in public schools? not to mention that unedited slasher version of English they use for the intro video they show to new teachers!!

c'mon now - inquiring minds want to know!!!

[jetrash]

if you read the text..apx 20 pages... might help
it actually will explain the hybrid KONGLISH and why it exists...

The findings suggest that mixing English with Korean is a linguistic mechanism for the construction of modernity in contemporary South Korea. It is argued that knowledge and use of English in South Korea is a defining linguistic expression of modernity, and the conspicuous total absence of English is linguistically disassociated from modernity

[jetrash]