The purpose of this article is to examine the necessity and the possibility of sociolinguistic approach to minority in Korea. Firstly, this article defines the concept of ‘minority’ and looks around its socio-historical background and implication. And then, several types of minority can be divided on the basis of its formative period and birthplace. As the next step, two forms of sociolinguistic approach to minority, that is, ‘linguistic human right approach’ and ‘linguistic citizenship approach’ are presented. This article cannot provide a detailed analysis and an alternative, but affords an opportunity to point out the significance and the limit of these two approaches. Finally, this article is concluded by proposing the cultural restructurization of the diversity and the uniformity in Korean society which includes its minority, and by presenting some sociolinguistic tasks related to the abolition of discrimination against minority and guarantee of its linguistic right.

Abstract
  Ⅰ. 머리말
  Ⅱ. 소수자의 개념
  Ⅲ. 한국 사회의 소수자의 유형과 그 특성
  Ⅳ. 소수자에 대한 사회언어학적 접근 방식
  Ⅴ. 맺음말: 다양성과 통합성, 그리고 문화적 재구조화
  참고 문헌

• 김하수(연세대학교)
• 조태린(국립국어원)