This study investigates how sociolinguistic factors such as gender and language proficiency affect speech rhythm by examining the spoken data of 40 Korean learners of English. Prosodic rhythm, which has been perceived to differentiate various regional varieties of English from General American English, is applied to L2 speech. By using the Normalized Vocalic Pairwise Variability Index (nPVI-V; Low, Grabe & Nolan 2000), L2 speech rhythm is quantified and results indicate that nPVI-V scores are higher for advanced learners of English (indicating more stress-timed speech) than for non-advanced speakers. The effect of gender on rhythm metrics is also tested. Results show that L2 male speakers are more likely to be syllable-timed, whereas L2 female speakers more stress-timed. This may reflect an aspect of gender paradox: women are more apt to adopt the new language than men. Overall, the results of the present study disclose how sociolinguistic factors such as gender and language proficiency interact with rhythm metrics in L2 speech.
The Kazak honorific system has been described to consist of a number of second person forms and terms of address. In addition to these core honorific expressions, however, my recent study of spoken Kazak in the Chinese Altai reveals that there are many other politeness features — both linguistic and non-linguistic — that constitute a loosely integrated honorific register system. They include grammatical distinctions (e.g., singular/plural, past/perfect, confirmative/non-confirmative), lexical distinctions (e.g., Chinese titles/Kazak kin terms), prosody (e.g., loud/quiet, fast/slow), as well as non-linguistic features (e.g., smoking/ non-smoking, male facial hair grown/removed, serving of black tea/milk tea). This paper describes these “non-core” expressions and the semiotic processes in which they, together with the core expressions, form a dichotomous system of contrast between plain and honorific registers.
Reform and opening-up in China brought rapid changes in the society of ethnic Koreans in China. And those changes caused following changes in language identity and language attitude of those ethnic Koreans that eventually led to change in their language use. The present study investigates relation between changes in language identity and language attitude and their language use.
The rates that Ethnic Koreans living in Jilin, China consider their mother language to be Korean(Joseon language, South Korean language and North Korean language) are different by their generations. Middle aged and older people tend more to consider Korean as their mother language compared to younger generation. Those two generations, however, showed opposed opinions about the future language they will use. More of older generation predicted that Korean will be rarely used among ethnic Koreans living in China in the future compared to younger generation.
The difference of language identity and the attitude to the language across generations was reflected in their actual language use. Older generations use Korean in general.They may borrow Chinese words when they can’t come up with appropriate Korean words or sometimes show code mixing by using Chinese words and sentences while speaking in Korean. In generations younger than middle age, code mixing and code switching are more frequently observed when their conversation topics are Chinese politics and Chinese cultures. The youngest generation mainly uses Chinese and showed code switching most frequently among all generations. The language use observed differently among the generations is reflection of changes in language identity and language attitude.
This research project examines the English loanword adaptation process in Korean as the initiator of variation in the lexical level. By focusing mainly on four loanword variants originated from the English expression application, the current study proposes several linguistic models of initiating lexical variation triggered by loanword adaptation processes. The linguistic examination on the adaptation of application to ayphullikheyisyen and ephullikheyisyen revealed that the generation of both loanword variants were systematically done. Regarding the other two forms, it is strongly suggested that ephul was derived from ephullikheyisyen through clipping, while ayp was a direct adaptation of the clipped English word app. These findings were supported through examining the appearance frequencies of those four variants in written media records. By demonstrating how the loanword adaptation processes can initiate variations in the lexical level, this study provides an additional insight in understanding the basic mechanism of linguistic variation in general, especially in investigating the cause of the initial stage of variation phenomena.
This paper scrutinizes the consonant alternations of Chinese Pidgin English in The Chinese and English Instructor(1862) that has been known as the representative text of CPE. The Chinese and English Instructor was written by Tong Ting-shu who was a comprador of Guangdong province, and composed of six volumes. Particularly, a part of volume 4 and a total of volume 6 consisted of CPE phrases or sentences. Therefore two volumes are very important for analyzing phonology, morphology and syntax of CPE. The CPE had been used primarily in Chinese southeastern coast from the early 19th century to the beginning of 20th century, and is a representative pidgin as a mixture of Cantonese and English. In CPE many consonants are replaced to others: from a fricative to a plosive and consonants cluster simplification etc. In The Chinese and English Instructor, particularly, we can see several consonants alternation. Firstly, [v] replaced [f], [w], and [p]/∅. Cantonese dose not have the [v] sound, so it changed to other consonants. Secondly, English plosives replaced aspirated voiceless plosives or unaspirated voiceless plosives because of the phonological system of Cantonese. However, this alternation is inconsistent and very complicated. Thirdly, [š] replaced the [s] sound in the condition that some vowels come after [š] or under the last syllable. But this vowel always replaced [syu] under some conditions. Fourthly, all of [θ] and [ð] sounds replaced [d], but only in the case ‘thisee’ and ‘the’ [ð] replaced [l].
This article treats the quotation of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Collected Writings of Korean Linguistics [Chosŏnŏhak Jŏnsŏ / Joseoneohak Jeonseo]. The citation of a political leader in a scholarly paper shows the powerful interference of political ideology on academic research. However, it is possible for scholars to judge what quotation they collect. Therefore, the influence of political ideology on the North Korean language academia can be measured by the status that Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's quotations are used.
Political ideological colors are most evident in communism and class-struggle quotations. However, in some quotations, radical phrases are omitted. There are many quotations about nationalism in Chosŏnŏhak Jŏnsŏ. Quite a few of them have some similarities to the discussion in South Korean academic circles. However, sometimes it is possible to conflict with the North academic circles, because a strong nationalism tendency is avoided in the South academic circles.
In the quotations about language policy, it was noticeable that the contents were different from each other. The northern scholar usually coped with avoiding or ignoring such conflicts because it is difficult to dare criticize any one quotation.
In addition, I have looked at quotations that are close to common sense. The reason why those quotations exist in the scholarship can be seen as the fact that the quotation is just a perfunctory expression. And that nearly half of the quotations are extracted from just four kinds of source articles.
This article aims to examine what kinds of non-linguistic parameters correlate with the variations of the sentence-ending styles used in television news. Specifically, we focus on shifting between Hapsyo-style and Haeyo-style, two dominant kinds uttered in the register, and the variations in Haeyo, based on the results from the analysis of a news corpus. It turned out that whereas the two styles are both used, Haeyo is used much less than Hapsyo in the news. In the use of Haeyo as opposed to Hapsyo, the three different parameters such as the gender of the speaker, the role of the speaker, and the type of the news item are shown to have significant correlations. That is, the values of women, anchors, and the type of news items for specific hearers, have positive correlation to the use of Haeyo, contrary to the values of men, reporters, and the type of news items for abstract hearers. The parameter which have the strongest correlation to the use of Haeyo turned out to be the types of news items, followed by the role of speaker, and the gender of the speaker are shown to be the weakest one. Regarding the variations among the different forms belonging to Haeyo, we examined the diversity of the endings used, with special attention to the proportion of the endings originated from clause-linkers, and it turned out that the role of speaker and the type of news items are significant parameters, among which the former is relatively more relevant.
This study aims at investigating 1)the perception of international students' mother tongue and Korean language, 2)whether their perception differs with the degree of Korean proficiency, and 3)whether the degree of exposure to Korean can affect Korean proficiency. Eighty nine international students participated in a questionnaire survey. The overall results on the survey showed that the international students' perception of their mother tongue was strong in general. However, interesting findings were that the participants' level of Korean proficiency was closely related to the perception of mother tongue: the participants who had a low level of Korean proficiency showed a comparatively strong perception of mother tongue. Furthermore, the perception of Korean language was weaker compared to that of their mother tongue. However, the exposure to Korean(e.g. the frequency of using Korean) playing a role in improving Korean proficiency was observed. Therefore, this study suggests that acquiring Korean can be related to the perception of mother tongue and that the international students should raise the frequency of contact with Koreans for their Korean proficiency.