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.

The purpose of this study is to investigate an effective way of using real-time computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools for the development of Korean EFL learners’ oral communicative competence. The subjects of the study are the 53 first-year female university students and they are randomly assigned into three groups: text-, voice-, and video-chatting groups. The major results of the study are as follows: first, all the three synchronous CMC tools are effective in improving the fluency and accuracy of speaking skills. Second, the voice-based CMC tools, not the text-based one, are effective in improving the learners’ interactive skills and active use of communicative strategies. Third, all the three synchronous CMC tools are effective in enhancing the learners’ confidence in their English speaking abilities and beliefs in the improvement of their oral communicative competence. Lastly, the learners’ responses to the use of the CMC tools in performing communicative tasks are very positive in all the three groups. Based on these results, some pedagogical suggestions are made on the effective use of the synchronous CMC tools in Korean English classroom settings.

중국과 한국이 다 한자문화권에 속해 언어와 문화의 비슷한 부분이 많다. 학자들이 양국 언어에 대해 비교연구를 많이 실시했으며 중한 인터넷언어는 비슷한 부분이 있지만 차이점도 적지 않다. 본 연구는 중한 양국 인터넷 언어의 어휘적 특징에 대한 비교연구를 한 결과 양국 인터넷 언어의 구성방식은 해음식, 생략식, 새로 해석식, 부호식 등으로 나눌 수 있는 공동점이 있지만 언어 자체의 특성과 사회적 문화차이 등으로 인해 많은 차이점도 있는 것으로 나타났다. 중국 인터넷 언어에서 해음 현상이 많으나 한국어에서는 적으며 중국어도 표의문자의 특성으로 인해 많은 기존 단어들에 대한 새로운 해석이 많지만 한국어에서는 거의 없다.