William Strnad traces the formation and development of modern Korean digraphia during the years 1894–1972, including a description and analysis of the historical discourse related to Korean phonetic script and Chinese characters. Modern Korean digraphia was contextualized and altered amid the global emancipation and speculative metanarratives of modernity, and the national metanarratives of nationalism and … [Read More]
Booklist: Language
A list of books on the Korean language that we’ve included in the database. We’ve consciously avoided the Sejong books that were the basis of our early studies, because we found them no use at all.
Sociolinguistics of the Korean Wave: Hallyu and Soft Power
Samosir and Wee examine how the immensely popular Korean Wave (“K-wave”) also known as Hallyu is wielded as soft power through the use of communication for persuasion and attraction on the global stage. The Korean Wave refers to the global spread and popularity of South Korean culture, particularly its pop music (“K-pop”), serialised dramas (“K-dramas”) … [Read More]
Emergence of Korean English: How Korea’s Dynamic English is Born
Emergence of Korean English explores the dynamic nature of emerging Korean English and its impact on Korean society, culture, and identity. This book challenges the negative stereotypes and stigmatization of Konglish and argues that it has been a great asset for Korea’s fast economic development. The fate of Korean English has been transformed in the time … [Read More]
The K-Wave On-Screen: In Words and Objects
The K-Wave On-Screen provides an engaging and accessible exploration of the meaning of ‘K-’ through the lens of words and objects in K-dramas and K-films. Once a small subculture known only to South Korea’s East Asian neighbours, the Korean Wave has exploded in popularity around the globe in the last decade. Its success has been … [Read More]
The Language of Hallyu: More than Polite
The Language of Hallyu will re-examine the language of the Korean Wave by looking at popular K-content. In doing so, it will expose the meanings that get lost in translation, hidden under subtitles. Over the past decade, hallyu (the Korean wave) has exploded in popularity around the globe. K-films, K-drama, and K-pop were once small subcultures, known mostly … [Read More]
Korean Wave in World Englishes: The Linguistic Impact of Korea’s Popular Culture
This book examines the linguistic impact of the Korean Wave on World Englishes, demonstrating that the K-Wave is not only a phenomenon of popular culture, but also language. The “Korean Wave” is a neologism that was coined during the 1990s that includes K-pop, K-dramas, K-film, K-food, and K-beauty, and in recent years it has peaked … [Read More]
Exilée and Temps Morts: Selected Works
In her radical exploration of cultural and personal identity, the writer and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha sought “the roots of language before it is born on the tip of the tongue.” Her first book, the highly original postmodern text Dictee, is now an internationally studied work of autobiography. This volume, spanning the period between 1976 and … [Read More]
The Societal Codification of Korean English
From the publisher’s website: From K-pop to kimchi, Korean culture is becoming increasingly popular on the world stage. This cultural internationalisation is also mirrored linguistically, in the emergence and development of Korean English. Often referred to as ‘Konglish’, this book describes how the two terms in fact refer to different things and explains how Koreans … [Read More]
Understanding Korean Film: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Film viewing presents a unique situation in which the film viewer is unwittingly placed in the role of a multimodal translator, finding themselves entirely responsible for interpreting multifaceted meanings at the mercy of their own semiotic repertoire. Yet, researchers have made little attempt, as they have for literary texts, to explain the gap in translation … [Read More]
On Translating Modern Korean Poetry
From the publisher’s website: On Translating Modern Korean Poetry is a research monograph exploring the intricacies and complexities of translating modern Korean poetry. This monograph highlights the difficulties entailed in translating Korean poetry, due to the lexical, structural, social, expressive and attitudinal levels with which the translator must be engaged. Featuring all-new translations, this book explores … [Read More]
Language and Truth in North Korea
From the publisher’s website: In this innovative and persuasive volume, Sonia Ryang offers new ways to think about North Korea and how truth emerges over decades from within a dominant discourse. It explores four discrete yet mutually related domains of discourse: North Korea’s literary purge of the 1950s–1960s; its state-initiated linguistic reforms of the 1960s–1980s; … [Read More]
Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook (2nd Ed)
From the publisher’s website: This revised second edition of Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook is an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume. The text can be used in conjunction with any primary textbook, both as a reference guide to the intermediate Korean grammar and a practice book to reinforce learning. This book … [Read More]
Glossolalia and the Problem of Language
From the publisher’s website: Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, has long been a subject of curiosity as well as vigorous theological debate. A worldwide phenomenon that spans multiple Christian traditions, glossolalia is both celebrated as a supernatural gift and condemned as semiotic alchemy. For some it is mystical speech that exceeds what words can … [Read More]
Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook
From the publisher’s website: The revised second edition of Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook is an accessible reference grammar and workbook in one volume. The text can be used in conjunction with any primary textbook, both as a practice book to reinforce learning and as a reference guide to the basics of Korean grammar. This book is … [Read More]
Study Abroad in Korea: Korean Language and Culture
From the publisher’s website: Study Abroad in Korea prepares students for study in Korean by providing the reader with key expressions and guidance on certain aspects of culture and language idiosyncratic to Korea, focusing on everyday scenarios. Key features include: Key expressions throughout the book, providing practical linguistic knowledge with jargon-free explanations. Exposes readers to contextualised, … [Read More]
The Construction of Korean Culture in Korean Language Textbooks: Ideologies and Textbooks
From the publisher’s website: The book examines the themes of cultural values, collective identity, political ideologies, and Korean cultural traditions throughout Korean language textbooks from the last 120 years. Through this analysis, the author explores the colonial, neo-colonial, and postcolonial contexts that have influenced South Korea. This work demonstrates the significant impact of textbooks and … [Read More]