Conversation analysis (CA) has grown in its status as a pragmatic approach to language-in-use worldwide, and its analytic perspective and methodology began to be introduced in Korea as early as in 1990s and gradually incorporated into the field of pragmatics/sociolinguistics in Korea. With a view to looking at how CA has established as an academic field in Korea, this article describes recent developments in CA in Korea, presenting an overview of how CA studies have been conducted by CAists stationed in Korea. Papers published in the period of 1990s to 2019 are reviewed and categorized in terms of some of the notable trends in research topics and methodological orientations, which are classified into grammar, interactional practices, and applied CA. The overview provides a basis on which the current state of affairs in domestic CA research is assessed, and suggestions are made for the direction of future development.

This paper examines the distributional patterns of ‘swearing’ expressions produced in cyberspace in response to NAVER internet news articles. A range of contextual features associated with the use of swearing expressions are identified in terms of their tendency to be formulated as response cries produced as part of affectively-loaded assessments. Serving as a resource for managing face through footing shift, the ways in which swearing expressions are formulated and deployed embody the writer's orientation to treating the cyberspace where they are situated as a form of ‘social situation’ where at least some form of face/impression management is required. The predominant use of their variant forms is analyzed not simply as an attempt to outsmart the institutional attempt at controlling their use but as a collusive act through which the fellow participants are co-implicated in a collective word play organized as a cyberspace-specific form of language game. The tendency of the swearing expressions to cluster and resonate with each other suggests that swearing in cyberspace should be treated not simply as an unconstrained individualized act but as an act embedded in interactively-organized ‘word play’ activities that are obliquely, but crucially, geared to enhancing consensual grounds for shared affective stance among the members of the cyber-community of practice.

This paper analyzes the response strategies the presidential candidates in Korea and in the U. S. use when they deal with the interviewer's accusation of inconsistency and shows the presence of a strategic maneuver for trying to win debates. When an interviewer criticizes politicians who have allegedly changed their views or acted in ways that are contradictory with their earlier statements in political interviews, politicians are often observed to strategically employ category shifts (i.e. agent shift, perspective shift, time shift, identity shift, or dissociation of agenda) to bring about a change in the starting points of discussion, and thus direct the audience attention to the change at hand, rather than the central aspects of the issue. The analysis provides a basis for further considering the action implications of such practices in terms of how the politician's strategic maneuvering response contributes to the resolution of difference in opinion, as viewed by the interviewer and the audience.

Suh, Kyunghee. 2016. “I mean as a Marker of ‘Interpersonal Repair’ in Crisis Negotiation”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 24(3). 223~247. This study investigates the discourse marker I mean in two transcripts of the 1993 Waco siege negotiations, paying special attention to its discursive use as a marker of ‘interpersonal repair’. Both quantitative and qualitative studies are carried out with a view to presenting its uses by two types of participants – the FBI and the Person of Interest (POI) - and the goals of a given negotiation. Where the FBI debate Judy’s release, I mean is frequently used by the FBI to stress the utmost urgency of having to treat Judy’s wounds; in the other set of data, however, it is used by the POI to bolster his position while blaming the other party, in the context of a more confrontational conversation between the POI and FBI. The finding suggests that I mean in crisis negotiations can be used to indicate that an upcoming adjustment is made in a more strengthening way, providing a noticeable contrast to previous findings where I mean serves as a mitigator, presaging a less-face threatening rephrasing of interpersonal repair. The finding further suggests that I mean’s basic meaning is particularized by both the goals of the talk it occurs and the specific negotiation situation.

Suh, Kyunghee. 2014. Pulling off Being Both Adversarial and Neutralistic: The case of Korean News Interview. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 22(3). This study analyzes how a journalist can design his question to strike a balance between two competing journalistic norms-neutrality and adversarialness-within the framework of conversation analysis. An analysis of the three news interview segments in JTBC News 9 reveals that the interviewer, Seok-hee Sohn, resorts to the extensive use of prefaced questions. These prefaced questions depict the third person-attributed statements in a way that distances Sohn from his more overtly opinionated remarks. The use of quotation from others serves a dual function: it enables the interviewer to express adversarial criticism of his guests, while maintaining a formally neutralistic posture. Yet this strategy is also employed to give the interviewee the chance to justify him/herself. Particular attention should be given to the observation that Sohn deliberately refrains from asking questions after revealing sensitive details about the interviewee. The interviewer sometimes implicitly voices his own adversarial stance even in a seemingly neutralistic question, thereby showing how the interviewer can function as a ‘devil's advocate’ in a news interview. The question design examined in this study suggests that innovation in question design and rhetoric in news interviews can reflect changes in social and political attitudes, norms, and behavior.

Suh Kyung-hee. 2012. Repeating the Interviewer: Repetition Strategies by Chinese EFL Learners in NS-NNS Interview. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 20(2). pp. 269-289. This paper examines the sequential contexts where repetition is observed in NS-NNS interview interactions involving Chinese learners of English. Special reference is made to how repetition practiced by NS and NNS is differently distributed in ways consistent with their identities situated in the institutional setting of interview. The examination of data reveals that Chinese EFL learners frequently use repetition as a discourse strategy. They repeat the topically salient phrases or key words from the prior utterances of native speakers at the utterance initial position in adjacency pairs. Such an allo-repetition (repetition of others) is to index topicality, which helps signal cognitive, textual, and affective participation or involvement in contextualized discourse. Such a repetition also functions to buy time for the speaker to finish planning his/her next move without relinquishing the floor. Here, repetition is deployed as a means of creating joint cognition and as a strategy with which partially competent speakers can find room in interaction, while a competent speaker can provide scaffolded help collaboratively. We can see that repetition is a social activity, part of our everyday behavior and not just a marker of a "disfluency" or "sloppy speaker" (Schegloff 1987). Repetition clearly has the power as a communication and negotiation tool.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor, induces toxicity in cells and in experimental animals. Ginseng extracts were evaluated to determine whether they can inhibit BPA-induced toxicity. The antioxidant activity of fresh ginseng extract (WGE), dried white ginseng extract (DGE), and dried red ginseng extract (RGE) was measured using the DPPH assay. WGE and RGE increased DPPH free radical scavenging activity. Cell viability was measured in HepG2 cells following treatment with BPA and ginseng extracts using the MTT assay. DGE and RGE increased HepG2 cell viability following treatment with 200 μM BPA. RGE reduced levels of biochemical markers of liver damage, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) that increased in mice following treatment with BPA. In addition, the regeneration and proliferation of damaged liver cells were significantly increased in RGE-treated mice. Moreover, RGE inhibited hepatic fibrosis in the surrounding area and in the central vein of the liver microstructure. RGE also significantly inhibited BPA-induced cytotoxicity. In addition, RGE protected liver damage and regenerated liver tissues in BPA-treated animals. These results show that RGE may represent a potential candidate drug for the treatment and prevention of liver damage caused by environmental toxins.

Background: Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley was investigated as a potential natural source of antioxidants and antiinflammatory agents. Methods and Results: The yields from Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley water and ethanol extract were 17.69% and 25.77%, respectively. The antioxidant activity of Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley extracts was confirmed by various methods including assayss of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzo thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), nitrite radical scavenging, and Fe3+ to Fe2+ reducing power activity. The ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley showed improved DPPH, ABTS and nitrite radical scavenging activity compared with the water extract. After treatment of RAW264.7 cells with Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley ethanol extracts, the cell viability compared with the control was 92.82%, even at a concentration of 3,000 ㎍/㎖. The ethanol extract inhibited reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in RAW264.7 cells stimulated with H2O2, even at low concentrations. In addition, the ethanol extract showed an inhibitory effects on the production of lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) in RAW264.7 cells. Conclusions: This study suggests that the extract of Ganoderma lucidum cultured on hulled barley is a potential source of natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.

Background : Lactuca sativa (LS) is a member of lactuca genus and the Asteraceae family. To its usual purpose as an edible leafy vegetable, lettuce has had a number of uses in ancient times as a medicinal herb. Depending on the variety, lettuce is an excellent source vitamin K and vitanin A. Methods and Results : The objective of this study is to find out the antioxidant and oxidative DNA damage prevention capacity of LS for both water and ethanol extract. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents have been estimated in this study. The extracts have been tested to assess the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2ʹ -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and nitrite scavenging activity. We have also evaluated the reducing power activity of LS. LS extracts showed a good radical scavenging activity on DPPH and ABTS free radical as concentration dependent manner. The IC50 values on DPPH radical scavenging activity were 0.75 mg/mL and 0.54 mg/mL for water and ethanol extract respectively. ABTS radical scavenging activity ranges from 38-89 % for water extract and 33-96% for ethanol extract. Although ethanolic extract showed a higher radical scavenging activity as compared to the water extracts. All the extracts exhibited reducing power activity, dose dependently. Moreover, when the DNA was treated with the extracts, supercoiled DNA was restored in a concentration-dependent manner. Conclusion : According to the results, we suggest that LS contains considerable amount of phenolic and flavonoid content and could be used as a source of natural antioxidant substances and oxidative DNA damage preventer.

Background : Achyranthes japonica Nakai (AJ) is a perennial herb with a wide distribution in East Asia including Korea, China, and Japan, and it is mainly used as a medicinal plant. In Korea, AJ has been widely used to control pain and improve symptoms in OA patients. AJ contains several important phytochemicals such as saponins, inokosterone, ecdysterone, and oleanolic acid bisdesmoside. Methods and Results : The aim of this work was to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of fermented and ethanol extracts of Achyranthes japonica Nakai (AJ). The extracts showed strong reductive power and nitrite scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging, superoxide radical scavenging, and DNA damage prevention activities. Treatment of RAW 264.7 macrophages with AJ inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NO secretion and iNOS expression without affecting cell viability. AJ also inhibited cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression, leading to the suppression of COX-2-derived prostaglandin E2 production. These inhibitory effects of AJ were accompanied by reduced production of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukins (IL)-1β, -6, and -10. Furthermore, AJ suppressed LPS-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and p38. Moreover, AJ inhibited malondialdehyde production and myeloperoxidase activity in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Conclusion : The antioxidant activity of plants is closely related to their medicinal properties and is widely used as a parameter to determine the bioavailability of medicinal plants. The antioxidant and biological activities of AJ extracts might be due to the synergistic actions of multiple bioactive compounds. It can be concluded that AJ extracts are a potential source of biologically important drug candidates.

Background : ROS produced by oxidative stress damaged endothelial cells, and cause a variety of vascular complications. In diabetic hyperglycemia state, ROS increase. The polyol pathway occur in diabetic complications, the excess glucose is absorbed into the polyol pathway when aldose reductase increased, NADPH changes it to sorbitol. Glutathione (GSH) removes ROS. GSH level is reduced by glutathione reductase, using NADPH as an electron donor. Activation of the polyol pathway decrease NADPH, and GSH also reduced. As a result, ROS is increased. In diabetic hyperglycemia state, Glycolysis increases. Effects of increased glycolysis, protein kinase C (PKC) is increased. NAD(P)H oxidase, stimulated by PKC-dependent pathway, increases ROS in the cell. In this study, we measured the ROS scavenging activity of 5 natural products (Lycii fructus, Astragalus membranaceus, Cassia Tora, Polygonatum odoratum, Rubus Coreanus), to confirm the efficacy as diabetic antioxidants. Methods and Results : We extracted 5 natural product by distilled water and ethanol. DPPH radical scavenging activity was significantly higher in Lycii fructus, Rubus coreanus. ABTS radical scavenging activity was better Rubus coreanus, Lycii fructus, Cassia Tora. In addition to, Rubus coreanus, Cassia Tora, Lycii fructus was comparatively higher reducing power activity than other natural products. And total phenolic and flavonoid contents were much higher in Rubus coreanus compared with other extracts. Conclusion : These results suggest that Lycii fructus, Rubus coreanus can be applied as diabetic antioxidant that prevent vascular complications caused by ROS.

Background : Dioscorea quinqueloba(DQ) is a medicinal herb that is used as an alternative therapy for cardiovascular disease and various medical conditions. The objective of this study was to characterize the antioxidant activities of DQ. Methods and Results : The samples were extracted with Distilled water and analyzed for total flavonoid contents, polyphenol contents, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and ABTS radical scavenging activity. H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells were subjected to H2O2, to study the protective effect of DQ on cell viability, and ROS production. The total amounts of polyphenols and flavonoids, which indicate the antioxidant capabillity of water extracts from DQ were 27.21mg/g and 22.95mg/g, respectively. The DQ water extract showed highest antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS scavenging activities. The DQ water extract was protected cells against H₂O₂-induced cell death without any cytotoxicity, as determined by the MTT assay. The DQ water extract also was inhibiting production of intracellular ROS. Conclusion : These observations suggest that DQ can use potentially good natural antioxidant in daily life for possible health benefits.