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Kang, Huisuk. 2003. A Synchronic Study of the Mother Tongue Usage of Korean-Chinese Students Living in Yeonbyeon, China. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). This study aims to synchronically analyze the mother tongue usage of Korean-Chinese People living in Yeonbyeon, China. The study is based on the writing materials of a literary contest for Korean-Chinese students.Korean-Chinese people living in Yeonbyeon have been maintaining their mother tongue even though they are living in the downward pressure of a bilingual society. The linguistic characteristics of their mother tongue are composed of three aspects: the reflection of regional dialects such as that of Hamgyeng-do, the conservative reflection of diachronic components and the innovative reflection of linguistic change in progress. These heterogeneous linguistic characteristics have formed depending on their peculiar culture and society. In particular, it is interesting that their language contact with both Chinese and South Korean have caused them to form new words, common expressions and sound changes in progress.

Gross, Nikolaus. 2003. Mensch oder Maschine? (II): Das Suffix -er im Wortschatz des Technikers. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). We have examined the derivations of the suffix -er found in a specialized dictionary of technology (RR = Routledge/Radde), their frequencies, syntactic-semantic patterns and the range of their uses; specifically we paid attention to the nomina agentis ambigua. Result of the research: In the vocabulary of RR we found 290 nouns, which are true derivations of the suffix -er. They form 1539 compound words. Indeed the nomina acti have been represented by only 10 Kernstichworter resp. Ersatzkernstichworter, but these had 134 compounds. We found only 6 names (KSW/EKSW) which designate acting persons (5 compounds). We found 131 unequivocal names of tools (instruments), of which 441 are compounds. The most extensive group, belonging to the -er-derivations, contains the nomina agentis ambigua, i.e. names which mean both tools and persons. They generate two KSW/EKSW fewer than the unequivocal nomina instrumentalia (129), but they form 858 compounds.For the language of the technician, our research reveals an even higher degree of dehumanization in the development of the NAG than it does in everyday language. Since the diction of everyday life assimilates more and more technological vocabulary, it is reasonable to assume that everyday language, resulting from the excessive use of such NAG, will become increasingly dehumanized. The ambivalence of the suffix -er (human/non-human agent) has negative consequences whenever this suffix is used indiscriminately for all agents within our environment. The increasing use of -er-suffix formations is a symptom of posthuman thinking moving further and further away from the idea of the human.

Kim, Kyung-Sook. 2003. Textual Variability of Newspapers According to Topics. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). This study analyzes two major newspaper registers, editorials and news reports, to show that the composition of these registers is variable according to topics. Previous studies assume, a priori, that editorials and news reports belong to different text types or treat them as if they had a homogeneous textuality. The current study tries to show that there is a variability even within the same register of editorials or news reports.The database for the study consists of editorial and news articles from English version of the Dong-A Ilbo on the Internet and from the New York Times, published between 1999 and 2002. The articles were chosen on the basis that they attracted wide attention in Korea or in the U.S. The topic of political corruption was chosen in the case of Korea and the topic of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in the case of the U.S. The database is comprised of a total of 200 texts and these texts are subdivided into eight different groups. Based on this database, the frequencies of 59 linguistic features which have been found to be discourse-functionally relevant were calculated. Then, distribution of these features was analyzed through Multi-Dimensional Method (Biber, 1988).The findings are as follows. First, the eight text groups show a considerable textual variability on five discourse dimensions as there is a complex interactive effect. Second, a two-way ANOVA reveals a textual variability that arises from the topic difference. Especially in the case of the Times, the terrorism-related news reports were found to be much more 'involved' than normal news texts.

Kim, Hye-Ryun. 2003. Re-examining the Role of Culture in English Education. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). With the continuing spread of English, English has now achieved global status. In the context of English as an International Language (EIL), the goals of culture teaching need to be changed. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the role of culture in English education in Korea. To this purpose, the paper will first define the concept 'intercultural communicative competence' which is becoming the acknowledged aim of foreign language education in the growing global community. The pedagogical goals of culture teaching in the language classroom will then be explored in the light of changes in the language teaching profession. In order to see this issue in the Korean context and to look into the problems that beset us, the results of a survey on Korean EFL teachers' views of culture teaching will be reported. Finally, the implications of the study for future curriculum development will be discussed. Throughout the paper, it will be stressed that culture teaching is more important than ever before, and should focus on empowering students to function appropriately in cross-cultural communication.

Noh, Jeonpyo & Suh, Jinhee. 2003. Naming of Brands Proven Successful in Korea: A Linguistic Approach. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). This expanded study explores the grammar of successful brand names in Korean from a linguistic perspective. Specifically, this study investigates the linguistic principles of brand names based on analyses of 568 successful Korean brand names. We first looked at selected brands from three linguistic areas: phonetic/phonological features, morphological/ syntactic structures, and semantic interpretations. Based on the analyses, the proposed seven research hypotheses governing the naming of successful Korean brands were verified. Each of the major linguistic components proves to be effective, and this result may set up a general branding framework applied to all products. A knowledge base of the best practices in the brand-naming must serve a base model for successful brand management. Understanding the underlying causes for the successes in the naming of brands will enable firms to better do business and to efficiently use resources.

Song, Kyong-Sook. 2003. Dynamics of Gender, Men and Women, in Korean and English Cyber Communication. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). The present study explores dynamics of gender, men and women, in Korean and English cyber, computer-mediated communication (CMC). This study first discusses some major features of CMC with reference to anonymity, accessibility, and social decontextualization. This paper then investigates gender differences with focus on synchronous CMC vs. asynchronous CMC, gender roles, gender equality, and gender ideology. As Herring (1993, 1994) notes, this study confirms that despite the democratic nature of CMC, the real-world power hierarchies carry over into the virtual communities, and gender differences are observed in cyberspace communication. The male-gendered style is authoritative and self-confident, whereas female-gendered style has two aspects of supportiveness and attenuation.

Lee, Jeongbok. 2003. Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Problems in Korean Refinement. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). This paper examines 25,000 Korean words that government agencies have refined since the 1990's. The principles of choosing words to refine and making words to replace are critically examined. This work suggests the following. When words to refine are selected, those words should be chosen that are now used or needs to be used. The generation and social class of speakers who mainly use the words to refine should be also considered. Additionally the words should be selected that share a common feature in terms of form, meaning, and usage. When words are selected that are tied to another country's cultural characteristic, there must not be any discrimination among languages.A number of suitable words should be made ready for various linguistic contexts when refining words. We must not literally translate words that reflect a peculiar culture of another country, and must make new words that match well with our cultural and social characteristics. It is undesirable to make refined words that can cause insults to disabled persons and confrontations among social classes. Sex discrimination among genders visible in the society should not be reflected in refined words. It is stressed that what is most important is our attempt to base our language refinement on the actual language use of speakers.

Lee, Jin-seong. 2003. Some Characteristic Aspects of Net Language in Korean and in English. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). With the global introduction of internet, a net language has emerged as a characteristic tool for internet communication, where each language has its unique ways of adapting itself for effective communication through a computer. This paper is aiming at comparing a net language of Korean with that of English with a special focus on economical aspects: how and what kinds of methods are employed in reducing the process of letter typing. In Korean, shortened forms of words and omission of suffixes were found to be the most favorably used for a faster communication. In English, on the other hand, acronyms were employed the most frequently among others. Both languages borrow numbers and alphabets for the purpose of sound representation, thus effectively reduce considerable number of syllables, where English adopts such method more commonly than Korean. A notable difference between the net languages of English and that of Korean is in their degree of affecting spoken sounds. The various reduced written forms of English net language are not seriously reflected in spoken language when pronounced, while the opposit is the case with Korean. In Korean, reduced forms of net language are directly reflected in pronunciation, thus accompanying considerable change in sounds of spoken language.

Chae, Seo-young. 2003. Use of English Initials in Korea to Express Anonymity: A Sociolingusitic Analysis. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). Recently, a distinctive way of using English alphabet is found in Korea. The English initial of a Korean name, whether it is a company or a person, is frequently used to express anonymity. Its usage is quite intriguing for a number of reasons: first, a principle seems to be at work in using two types of initials, 'true' and 'pseudo' initials, although it is often arbitrarily determined by the writer; second, the referent who is termed by a 'true initial' may be faced with the doubt and other people with the same initials might may suffer because of it; third, the usage is inevitably limited to a group of Koreans who know and prefer English, thus segregates other people who prefer traditional expressions to English counterparts.

Han, sung-il. 2003. A Study on the Use of Online Communication Language Using Questionnaire Survey. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). The objective is to investigate chatting rooms and the current state of the use of communication language on the internet using a questionnaire survey. Important findings among the questionnaire results can be summarized as follows. ① University students use less swears or slangs than middle or high school students. This means that middle and high school students use swears or slangs as a popular language, and they do not control themselves in using them as they grow up. ② Problems in computer chatting conversation, i.e., 'destruction of our language', 'use of swears or slangs', as well as 'meaningless conversation' or 'rough conversation' were pointed out. ③ When chatters used their real names, they used much less lying, exaggeration, swearing, etc., but still did not try to speak properly observing the language standard. ④ The younger chatters are, the more they use communication language as the popular language. ⑤ The reason why chatters use communication language might be understood as a kind of 'language selection' to adapt to the communication environment as well as to a principle of economic efficiency and expression. Therefore, communication language has to be accepted as a social dialect and education as to its efficient and proper use is needed.

Hwang, Sunhae. 2003. A Study of English Production in the Context of Community Support. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 11(2). The purpose of the study is to explore how community involvement supports English use in the context of interactional situations. In the EFL situation, target language use, especially in the early stage of learning, tends to be limited within the classroom setting and between the students and the teachers. In this experimental study, learners' activities were designed to get the college community involved in such a way that the faculty members participated in the students' English speaking activities in a natural communicative manner. In addition, this study illustrated linguistic features of the experimental and control group for the purpose of examining the effects of interactional activities outside the classroom, i.e., the college community. The results show that the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of communicative and pedagogical aspects of language learning. It has been proposed that the early English production can be beneficial if community support is initiated for the target language use.