PREVIOUS STUDIES: A CRITICAL REVIEW
Most research on codeswitching and codemixing1
The distinction between codemixing and codeswitching is not
made in the discussion on previous research.
can be divided into
two major categories: the formal/structural-linguistic approaches
focused on structure constraints (e.g.,
Azuma
1993,
Belazi, Rubin & Toribio 1994,
Bhatt 1997,
Bokamba
1989,
Clyne 1987,
DiSciullo, Muysken & Singh 1986,
Pfaff 1979,
Poplack 1980,
Myers-Scotton 1993,
Sridhar
& Sridhar 1980), and the functional/social-pragmatic
approaches centered on social motivations (e.g.,
Auer
1995,
Blom & Gumperz 1972,
Gross 2000,
Heller 1988,
Gal 1987,
Li, Milroy &
Ching 1999,
Myers-Scotton 1997). The
majority of these studies have been based predominantly on naturally
occurring, spoken codeswitched utterances in interpersonal
interaction.
Studies specific to English mixing in mass media, especially in
advertising, have been relatively new (e.g., Bhatia 1987, 1992, 2001; Cheshire & Moser
1994; Cook 1992; Haarmann 1989; Martin 1999,
2002a, 2002b; Piller
2000, 2001, 2003). These studies can be categorized as focusing on
the following areas: (i) symbolism in use (e.g., Cheshire & Moser 1994, Haarmann, 1989), (ii) identity construction (e.g.,
Gao & Pandharipande 2002; Piller 2000, 2001, 2003), or (iii) globalization (e.g., Bhatia 1987, 1992, 2001; Martin 1999, 2002a, 2002b; Myers 1999).
In order to attain a more nuanced understanding of the generalizations
of English mixing in advertising discourse, I argue that the convergence
of the last two – identity construction and globalization – is
necessary. Specifically, I will argue that in the globalizing world, the
tension between global discourses and local practices produces hybridity
that is interlinked with modernity by its engagement with English, and
that the linguistic expression of modernity in South Korea is guaranteed
by English bilingualism.
One of the first studies specific to advertising in the Far East that
discusses the functions of multilingual advertising is Haarmann's
(1989) research on Japanese television
advertisements. He argues that English is used symbolically because there
is no expectation that Japanese viewers understand English they see or
hear. Simply put, English use in Japanese TV commercials is argued to have
less to do with message conveyance and more to do with appealing to TV
viewers. Haarmann claims that the use of English words in Japanese
advertising is primarily meant to appeal to the public's positive
feelings toward internationalization, and not for practical communication.
His account, however, cannot be generalized to English mixing in Korean TV
commercials because the latter contain various instances of English mixing
that rely on bilingual viewers' understanding of what they hear and
see.
If English mixing in Korean advertising is, in fact, intended to serve
merely as an “attention-getter” (Jung
2001) or simply to create positive “feelings” about
modernity and internationalization and has little to do with actual
understanding of a message, we would not expect Korean advertisers and
copywriters to use English expressions that deviate from the so-called
canonical use of Standard English. If the Korean case were similar to what
Haarmann argues for the Japanese case, where the public neither
understands nor uses English for practical communication, what difference
would it make if Korean advertisers simply used Standard English rather
than Koreanized innovations? In fact, English use in Korean commercials
indicates that English is not used simply to create the impression of a
modern, fashionable style. If the public's understanding of TV
commercials that contain English mixing were not an issue at all, as
Haarmann seems to suggest, it is not clear why Korean bilingual
copywriters would opt for Koreanized English (such as moving bra
in place of Standard English forms such as underwire bra or
push-up bra)?
Notice that this is not an example of localization of international ad
campaigns; rather, it is domestically constructed strictly for domestic
viewers. Labeling this type of Koreanized English in advertising as an
indication of interference or incomplete acquisition would be somewhat
misleading and simplistic. As Blommaert (2003:616) suggests, “‘good’ and
status-carrying English in the periphery may be ‘bad’ and
stigma-carrying English in the core of the world system.” As far as
the meaning-accessibility of the message is concerned, push-up
bra is equally as intelligible to Korean viewers as moving
bra. This is not to say, however, that there is a total absence of
inequalities in English proficiency across creators and consumers of
commercials in South Korea.
What needs to be recognized is that the trend of mixing English in
non-English advertising may be globalized, but the kind of innovative
English that works is highly localized. For instance, hybridized English
in Indian advertising might evoke an image of modernity, but its message
is not necessarily intelligible to South Korean consumers. In order for
their ads to make sense, Korean advertisers customize their English in
domestically aired advertising in such a way that it can target a wider
range of viewers in Korea across stratified levels of English
proficiency.
As Hill (1999: 546) asserts, “The
sphere of the market is an important zone for mixing and crossing.”
In this sense, commercial discourse such as advertising becomes a
pertinent sociolinguistic site in which to investigate crossing and
mixing. The linguistic practices of “styling the other” and
“crossing,” which refer to the use of outgroup linguistic
styles, are empirically documented in Bell 1999,
Bucholtz 1999, Cutler
1999, and Lo 1999. However, building
one's own identity by styling the other is not without a risk. In
fact, Hill (1999: 552) argues that “this
constructed self will be rejected as ‘inauthentic’” and
that “the crosser will be rejected as, in Cutler's words,
‘a “wannabe”’ by peers of both ‘own’
and ‘other’ group.”
As for identity construction in advertising, Piller (2001:153) proposes to view mixing as a compilation of
hybrid social identities that are shifting “from political to
economic” ones. She argues that this identity change influences a
shift “from monolingual practices to multilingual and
English-dominant ones.” Piller discusses multiple orientations in
identity constructions. There are International, Future, Success,
Sophistication, and Fun orientations. English is used to
address the reader as an international, career-oriented worker. The use of
lexical items such as tomorrow and future technologies
indicates that the reader is portrayed as future-oriented. Professional
executives are often featured in English-mixing advertisements in Germany,
and they are depicted as being “endowed with wealth” and
leading a “desirable lifestyle.” These linguistic attitudinal
creations are the ideological work of English in the globalizing world and
find support in the present study.
Piller 2001 suggests that the aforementioned
five orientations “emerge from” her bilingual advertisement
corpus. In order to make this claim, she should have contrasted
German-only ads, which constitute 26.6% of her corpus, with mixed ones to
see whether these characteristics are in fact unique to bilingual ads.
Without the presentation of a comparative analysis of
“narratees”' orientations in German-only advertising
versus those in bilingual advertising, her theoretical claim about the
characteristics of bilingual narratees would not provide an accurate
account. Thus, the present study attempts a comparative treatment of
Korean-only commercials versus English-mixed commercials to validate the
theoretical claim that English mixing achieves a certain goal that is not
sought in Korean-only commercials – that is, the linguistic
construction of modernity.
Similar to Piller 2001, the present study
makes a connection between language and its associated identities. This
connection is treated as an essential component in understanding identity
construction and its interface with modernity. Piller (2001:153) contends that advertisements in Germany
“valorize German-English bilingualism and set it up as the strongest
linguistic currency for the German business elite.” Her findings,
however, do not suggest that there exists an age-related language subgroup
association within the same business elite class. Interestingly, my study
indicates that among identities indexed with modernity that hinge on the
use of English, age turns out to be a critical variable. For instance, a
successful business executive in Piller's study is identified as
someone who is bilingual in English and German and who values quality,
tradition, and authenticity. In contrast, I argue that if the successful
executive is a middle-aged male, then only Korean or Sino-Korean2
Chinese character-based Korean, both spoken and
written.
is used, whereas if he is a young man, English mixing is
used. An individual who “values tradition” in this study is
not indexed as modern; therefore, there is a clear absence of English in
those types of commercials.
Identities represented in the form of orientations in Piller's
study seem to overlap with one another. For instance, properties of
success orientation can intersect with those of sophistication
orientation. In order to deal with this intersecting quality of
identities, I propose that the modern identity be viewed as a
superordinate identity that encompasses all of the above; that is, being
modern subsumes being international, progressive, futuristic, and
fun-loving. This is not to claim that all of these orientations are
present simultaneously at all times. For example, a combination of being
successful and fun-loving could be perceived as being modern, without the
element of being futuristic.
More importantly, an understanding of identity construction work in
Korean TV advertising discourse requires the addition of one critical
subordinate identity to those that identity construction-oriented
researchers such as Piller have proposed: language skills. The findings of
the present study demonstrate that being a Korean-English bilingual is
arguably the most determining identity required for one to claim
membership in modernity. Being an English-knowing and English-using Korean
is one of the most significant characteristics of “being
modern” in contemporary South Korea.
What is meant by “modernity” in this study is based on an
overview of research conducted by scholars who worked specifically on the
notion of modernity in connection with globalization (e.g., Bilton 1996; Flowerdew 2002;
Giddens 1990; Hall
1996; Hall, Held & McLennan 1996;
McGrew 1996a, 1996b;
O'Brien, Penna & Hay 1999; Robertson 1992; Waters
1995).
Hall et al. (1996:432) argue that “the
direct result of increasing globalization is a sense of variety
of values and customs and people become more attached to their
locality as the appropriate forum for self-assertion”
(emphasis added). In their discussion of the impact of globalization and
the resultant tension between the “global” and the
“local,” they argue that modernity accelerated the pace of
cultural innovation, the production of new languages, and the pursuit of
novelty and experiment as cultural values.
McGrew (1996a:273) proposes that
globalization has two dimensions: “scope (or stretching) and
intensity (or deepening).” In another article, McGrew (1996b: 470) warns that the popular use of the term
“globalization,” which is often associated with people's
awareness that “modern communication technology has shrunk the
globe,” is inaccurate. This so-called common-sense understanding of
the term “globalization” often neglects to deal with its
multiple consequences. For McGrew, globalization is “a process
through which events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world
can become significant in distant parts of the globe” (1996b:470). The multiplicity of linkages and
interconnections that transcend nation-states which is represented in the
form of globalization “reinforces social and cultural boundaries
while simultaneously creating ‘shared’ cultural and social
spaces in which there is an evolving ‘hybridization’ of ideas,
values, knowledge, and institutions” (1996b:479). One instantiation of this hybridization he
identifies is advertising.
Similarly, Hall (1996:623) notes that these
contradictory tendencies between the global and the local are the very
dynamics of globalization. Hall claims that the tension between the global
and the local lies in the transformation of identities. That is, there is
a tension “between particularistic forms of attachment or belonging
and more universalistic identification.” In his discussion of
cultural identities, Hall (1996:619) proposes
that “compression of distances and time-spaces are among the most
significant aspects of globalization affecting cultural identities.”
He presents three consequences of globalization on cultural identities:
national identities are being eroded; other local particularistic
identities are being strengthened; and national identities are declining
but new identities of hybridity are taking their place. In Hall's
view, globalization exploits local differentiation. This is not to say
that the global replaces the local; rather, a “new
articulation,” in Hall's term, emerges between the global and
the local. Another critical point Hall argues is that “globalization
is unevenly distributed ‘between different strata of the
population’ with regions” (1996:624). This point, in particular, bears empirical
significance for Korean TV commercials, because younger and older
generations are linguistically addressed differently in these
commercials.
Arguments made by scholars in the area of modernity and globalization
resonate with what is discussed by Giddens 1990.
Since Giddens makes specific reference to advertising, his theorization of
modernity and globalization will serve as a main point of reference for
understanding these two concepts, which are essential to the present
study. Giddens writes that “modernity is inherently
globalizing” (1990:63). Globalization is
claimed to entail an unprecedented degree of interpenetration between the
global and the local. His argument specific to advertising is that it
increasingly transcends particularities of one place and comes to be
usable irrespective of time and place. As a consequence, commonalities of
discourse practices rise above linguistic differences. Giddens (1990:64) views globalization as the
“intensification” of social relations linking “distinct
localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring miles away and vice versa.”
Then, how is globalization manifest in social life? Waters 1995 claims that economy, polity, and culture
are three areas in which people become aware that geographical constraints
on social and cultural arrangements are decreasing. He argues that
material, political, and symbolic exchanges are quite relevant to
globalization. In particular, advertising is listed as one of the most
prevalent examples of symbolic exchange.
Studies of globalization generally focus on one of the following
facets: cultural imperialism, the local, and “glocalization”
(Machin & van Leeuwen 2003). English mixing
in advertising draws on this very concept of globalization, which suggests
that mixing allows success in many different markets and at the same time
requires an adaptation to a local market. In her study of English mixing
in French advertising, Martin 2002a asserts that
English is a preferred language among other foreign languages in French
advertising when one wants to globalize the product's brand
image.
Myers 1999 also discusses advertising in
connection with globalization. He argues that there is a competing
strategy between creating advertising that will be successful in many
markets and adapting advertising to its local market. Myers stresses that
without careful consideration of its potential impact in a given cultural
setting, an ad campaign might end up being unsuccessful. One example Myers
provides is an ad for shampoo that stresses its “naturalness.”
The way “naturalness” is depicted varies across cultures from
“a mountain meadow to a boat on a pond” (1999:61). This example hints that a common concept
such as “naturalness” needs to be expressed in a subtly
different way to appeal to viewers and consumers in a particular
market.
Similarly, Bhatia 2001 addresses the issue
of globalization in advertising and stresses the notion of
“glocalization,” which is also extensively discussed by
Robertson 1995. Bhatia focuses more on the
innovative and creative aspects of mixing, an emphasis which resonates
with empirical findings in this study of Korean advertising. The
“positive approach” claims that “language mixing in
advertising satisfies deeper innovative and creative needs of
advertisement writers to create desired effects of persuasion,
naturalness, and other socio-psychological effects in their
language” (Bhatia 2001:197). The local
adaptation of English is demonstratively in process in Korean TV
commercials, as this study will show. The innovative use of English in
Korean ads is not merely an ad hoc attention-getter. It is used to express
Korean-English bilinguals' engagement with modernity. For these
bilinguals, English is not an alien language but part of their socially
active verbal repertoire. These bilinguals are not passive consumers of
so-called canonical Standard English varieties, but active interlocutors
and participants in the process of creating localized uses of English. The
use of English with the attendant innovations allows a space for hybridity
where the global uses of English are compromised to create local effects
(Bhatt 2003).
In his discussion of globality and locality, Bhatt (2003:17) argues that English allows “language
consumers to glide effortlessly among local, national, and international
identities” through hybridity. He further asserts that this
hybridity “produces and reproduces identity positionings that link
the global to the local” (2003:17).
In fact, as Chouliaraki & Fairclough
1999 have argued, modernity necessitates less clear boundaries
between global and local. They argue that ever-increasing interaction
across different linguistic and cultural boundaries leads to prevalent
hybrid discursive practices; bilingual advertising in South Korea turns
out to be a paradigmatic example of such practices.
Prevalent use of localized English across different genres in popular
culture such as music, TV shows, movies, magazines, and advertising is an
indication of the development of bilingualism in public domains in South
Korea, although it is still in the incipient stage. The combination of
visible availability of English use in public domains and improved
accessibility of English in schools via newly implemented English
education policies enables Koreans to participate in the sociolinguistic
process of modernity, accessible through the acquisition of English.
The subsequent sections first present a brief history of English
education in Korea to situate the status and presence of English in
contemporary South Korea. In the remainder of the article, how
English-knowing and English-using bilinguals in Korea flex their creative
linguistic muscles in the construction of modernity will be demonstrated
through specific examples from TV commercials.
ENGLISH IN KOREA
An overview of English in educational as well as commercial
institutions in South Korea reveals three major characteristics of the
powerful influence English exercises in contemporary Korean society: (i)
the pervasiveness of the ideology that English is associated with
modernity, (ii) its heightened visibility in public sociolinguistic
domains in Korea, and (iii) its improved accessibility – in terms of
recently implemented English language programs at the primary school level
– and the great potential that this represents for improved English
proficiency among young Koreans.
It has been claimed that formal English education has existed in Korea
for 120 years, since the establishment of the first English school,
Dongmoonhak, in 1883 (Kwon 1995). English
education through the modern public school system began with Japanese
colonial rule (1910–1945). However, English textbooks offered
grammatical accounts in Japanese during this period. The teachers spoke
either Korean or Japanese as their first language (Kwon
1995). By the end of World War II, after the liberation of Korea
from Japanese rule, English became a required subject in all secondary
schools (Choe 1996, cited in Shim 1999).
Excluding the years of English education during the Japanese colonial
period, Korea's autonomous and modern English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) education now has a history that spans more than 50 years. English
education was offered until 1997 from the seventh grade upward. In 1997,
the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
implemented a new English education policy which reinforces the
introduction of EFL at the beginning of third grade.3
Source: Education policy published by the Korean Ministry of
Education and Human Resources Development (http://www.moe.go.kr/
).
In order to expand foreign language education,
English has been taught as a part of the regular curriculum one to two
hours a week, beginning with third grade, since 1997. In 2002, a total of
856 native speakers of English had been invited by the government from the
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and
Ireland and placed in elementary, middle, and high schools. In elementary
schools, homeroom teachers are in principle made responsible for teaching
English, but new methods such as exchanging classes and team teaching are
also available to suit the individual schools. For the implementation of
English education, native speakers have been assigned to middle schools
since 1995.
In another recent and ongoing effort to promote English education, the
Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development has
maintained a policy to promote the establishment of close relationships
between Korean schools and those in other countries, especially in the
United States. Approximately 147 Korean universities and colleges have
established sister-school relations with 584 U.S. universities and
colleges.
The English Program in Korea (EPIK)4
is a government program sponsored by the same ministry. EPIK invites
foreign university graduates to enrich their lives and build a
professional teaching career while sharing knowledge and culture with
students and teachers throughout the Republic of Korea. In 1995, EPIK was
implemented with the participation of 150 members to improve the
English-speaking abilities of Korean students and teachers, to develop
cultural exchanges, and to reform teaching methodologies in English. In
2002, the EPIK commission recruited approximately 120 new native-speaking
English teachers. Anyone can apply for EPIK who has completed at least six
years of secondary education and four years of college leading to a
bachelor's degree, and who is from one of six major English-speaking
countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
and the United States). Those selected for the program generally teach
English in public secondary schools, train Korean English teachers, or
assist provincial offices of education.
Shim observes, “In South Korea, English has become not only the
most important foreign language, but also an essential tool for education,
power, and success” (1994: 225) and
further notes that “the ability to speak it well is often associated
with higher and therefore desired social status” (1994:238). She estimates that at least a half of the
younger generation (aged 15–40) are Korean-English bilinguals, since
“all Korean children are exposed to at least three years of formal
English education during the mandatory education period, and since more
than 60 percent of middle school graduates also finish high school
education” (1994:237). Whether Shim's
observation that 50% of the younger generation are bilingual has empirical
bearing on their daily English use is debatable and is dependent on how
one defines “bilingual.” Nonetheless, differences in
acquisitional patterns and pedagogical concerns regarding English in South
Korea are not irrelevant to generational issues.
This keen and robust interest in English is evident not only in
pedagogical institutions but also in private sectors and government
agencies.5
Information regarding how English
skills are required in private sectors and government agencies is from the
source http://www.toeicclinic.co.kr.
More than
700 major Korean companies, including conglomerates
6 They include Daewoo, Keumho, Hyndai, Korean Air, Dacom, Lotte,
Samsung, Dong-A, Asiana Airlines, Doosan, Anam, Korea Tire, Korea Heavy
Industry, Hyosung, Ssangyong.
such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and
Daewoo, require English on their new-hire recruiting exams. After these
employees are hired, they need to attend in-house foreign language
programs run by either a human resource department or a training center to
improve their conversational skills and TOEIC (Test of English for
International Communication) scores. If employees do not satisfy a minimum
score requirement on their English test, they are excluded from
company-wide overseas training and promotion (e.g., for assistant manager
and manager positions).
For instance, LG gives an additional monthly bonus of $50 to employees
who score 730 or higher on the TOEIC. Ssangyoung excludes employees who
scored lower than 600 on the TOEIC from the annual company-wide promotion.
Since there is a two-year time limit for the official TOEIC scores to be
considered valid, employees are required to retake the test once every two
years. However, employees who score 850 or higher on the TOEIC are exempt
from this requirement. Thus, in order for employees to be free from the
hassle of taking the test on a regular basis, this kind of policy gives
them extra motivation to score as high as they can.
According to the Samsung public relations department, “A good
score on the TOEIC guarantees additional bonus points for their job
performance. The company does not have to force the employees. They
themselves try to score high.” However incipient and unstable
societal bilingualism is in Korea, no one can deny that the presence of
English in the areas of education and employment is robust.
METHODOLOGY
This study is based on qualitative data taken from a total of four
hours of video-taped Korean TV commercials. The corpus includes 720
advertising spots. These commercials were broadcast on the major Korean
television stations – Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), Munwha
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), and Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS)
– during prime time on weekends in August through October 2002.
The rationale for choosing weekend prime time for collecting data was
to ensure the maximum number of viewers. A TV rating survey conducted by
TNS Media7
The source website is www.tnsmk.co.kr. It is a TV audience research company.
Its survey is based on remote pushbotton Peoplemeters; mains communication
in the house; guest viewing with demographics; program appreciation scores
(AI); picture matching for digital TV area.
indicates that the
commercials analyzed for this study were aired for TV shows that ranked in
the top twenty on the rating list. Ratings for these shows ranged from
18.7% to 33.2%. These rating statistics suggest that these advertisements
were presented when a large number of TV viewers were tuned in.
This study investigates how English mixing is used and what it is used
for in Korean TV commercials. Previous studies of TV commercials have
highlighted the multimodal nature of TV commercials and have stressed the
importance of incorporating not only linguistic but also visual and
auditory means of communication in them (e.g., Cook
1992, Geis 1982, Piller 2000). Following their argument, analyses
presented in this article include not only linguistic features but also
visual and sound effects, such as characters and music featured in each
commercial. Therefore, whenever paralinguistic description is necessary
for clear understanding of a given commercial, a detailed illustration of
audio-visual effects will be provided.
Two major categories, Korean-only (KO) and English mixed (EM), will be
contrasted. KO includes commercials aired in exclusively Korean as well as
Sino-Korean (Hanca, or Chinese-character-based Korean). There was such a
paucity of TV commercials with mixed second languages other than English
that they were not included in the data. English-only commercials
constitute only a fraction of the corpus, and therefore they are not
discussed in this article. The analysis centers on EM, which constitutes
the majority of the data, and its comparison with KO. This dichotomous
treatment of KO and EM is critical in establishing evidence for my major
argument that EM commercials are designed to engage viewers and consumers
in the process of constructing identities of modernity, whereas KO
commercials are not.
The corpus of 720 advertising spots was first classified according to
which language code was used, KO or EM. Then each category was
investigated further regarding what product was featured. Since this study
essentially draws on comparative aspects of KO and EM commercials, only
the categories of products that were advertised in both KO and EM, found
in a total of 267 advertising spots, were subject to further investigation
in terms of their endorsed messages and featured characters.
Three subcategories common to KO and EM emerged from the corpus. I
call these technology, gender roles, and taste8
It has to do with cultural traditions specific
to food and cuisine.
Technology
includes any industrial mechanical or electronic products, such as cars,
computers, or cellular phones. Gender roles include commercials that
contain statements or messages regarding gender differences and
representations of males or females by using gender-related lexical items
such as
woman or
man. Taste includes beverage
commercials such as those for coffee and alcoholic drinks. Some
commercials might fall into more than one category. For example, a gas
oven commercial with female spokespersons can be classified in both
technology and gender roles simultaneously. When this occurred, the
decision was made based on the main advertising copy or voice-over. That
is, if the main copy of a commercial for gas ovens made specific reference
to female roles, it was classified as gender roles rather than technology.
This occasionally arguable classification does not pose a threat to the
main theoretical claim that knowledge and use of English in South Korea is
a defining linguistic expression of modernity, since the association of
English mixing with modern identity construction is maintained across all
three domains of advertising discussed.
Before delving into an individual discussion of the three domains
(technology, gender roles, and taste as a culture form) of advertising
discourse, I analyzed contrasting characteristics between KO and EM
commercials, first in terms of the identities featured in each category.
This overview of dissimilar identities serves as critical supporting
evidence for a connection between language codes and their promoted
identities.
After establishing the general dissimilarities between KO and EM
commercials, they were further compared according to the products
advertised. To achieve a more or less fair comparison between KO and EM,
only the ones that advertised the same product were contrasted. In the
following discussion KO commercials will be introduced first, immediately
followed by comparable EM commercials. Each sample is given first in the
original orthographic representation (e.g., Hangeul ‘Korean’
and/or Hanca ‘Sino-Korean’), followed by its roman
transliteration and English translation. English mixing – regardless
of whether it is presented in the Korean orthography (e.g.,
‘engineered jean’) or in roman script – is in boldface.
All relevant observations about audiovisual effects are included in the
discussion of each example.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the literature review section, I proposed integrating two
approaches in the study of advertising discourse. The proposed merging of
identity construction and globalization approaches will yield a
sociolinguistically significant generalization about English-mixing
advertisements in South Korea in which linguistic modernity is expressed
via acquisition and use of English. In this section, I will demonstrate
how modernity is indexed via English use in the following domains: (i)
modernity and technology, (ii) modernity and gender, and (iii) modernity
and taste as a cultural form. In each section, I will show how modernity
is crucially interlinked with the use of English. There are certainly
cultural forms to express modernity other than the use of English (e.g.,
clothing, hairstyle). However, what I argue in this article is that Korean
TV commercials employ the English-mixing strategy as a main linguistic
cultural form to index modernity. This type of discoursal hybridity is one
key aspect of globalization (Bhatt 2003, Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999). My theoretical
claim is that the use of English – however proportionately
insignificant it might be in a given advertisement – is indexed to
modernity. A specific prediction of the claim is that any conspicuous
absence of English use must be unassociated with modernity.
Following an adapted version of Piller's (2001) typology, a total of 720 TV advertising spots
were analyzed. The proportion of Korean-only (KO) versus English-mixing
(EM) in the corpus is summarized in Table 1.
Proportion of KO and EM in a corpus of 720 Korean TV
commercials.
A total of 603 EM commercials were further classified into the
categories shown in Table 2. The largest segment
in the EM corpus is realized in the linguistically mixed mode – that
is, a combination of written and spoken modes. The ads in this category
are presented both as a voice-over – either uttered by a main
spokesperson or by a narrator – accompanied by the orthographic
presentation of English mixing. A very small number of advertising spots
rely exclusively on nonlinguistic tokens such as Western pop music
and/or Western characters.
Different types of mixing in a corpus of 603 ads in EM TV
commercials.
Table 3 presents the top five products
advertised in the KO category, in descending order. Food is an item mostly
advertised in Korean only. Some products are spicy instant noodles, rice,
and seasonings essential for Korean cuisine, such as soybean paste, hot
pepper paste, and soy sauce. KO commercials for financial institutions
frequently use lexical items such as wuli nala ‘our
nation’, Tayhanminkwuk ‘Republic of Korea’, or
wuli kacok ‘our family’. It is notable that the first
person singular possessive nay is absent from the data. Instead,
the first person plural possessive wuli represents a collective
entity, whether it refers to a nation or a family.
Top 5 products advertised in KO commercials.
The top five products advertised in the EM category demonstrate an
order different from that of those in KO. In order to establish a
connection between English mixing and its role in fostering and
reinforcing modernity in TV commercials, it is necessary to examine how EM
commercials differ from KO commercials. In particular, the following
questions are worth investigating: (i) What kinds of consumers do these
commercials target? (ii) What kinds of identities associated with
characters or spokespersons are featured? And (iii), what kinds of
messages do they endorse or convey?
Top five products advertised in EM commercials.
First, I will discuss general properties of KO commercials, then EM
ones. General properties are the identities of characters presented and
products featured. Then I will discuss contrasting examples from each
category, KO and EM, a dichotomous treatment of typology that was
justified earlier in the discussion of how to overcome some of the
limitations of Piller 2001. Contrasting examples
from the two categories advertise the same type of product (e.g., cellular
phones), and yet their associated identities and endorsed messages are
drastically different. I argue that the main contributing factor to this
contrast has to do with which language code these commercials utilize. In
other words, whether a commercial is in KO or EM predicts what kind of
consumers it caters to and what kinds of identities are indexed with these
consumers.
Language and identity in KO commercials9 They include well-established English loanwords
due to a lexical gap.
The use of linguistic features associated with a group to identify
with that group (termed “referee design” by Bell 1999) is relevant to English use in Korean TV
commercials. The notion of “audience design” discussed by Bell
(1984, 1991, 1992, 1997) also provides a
theoretical underpinning for the argument that “linguistic features
associated with a group can be used to express identification with that
group” (Bell 1997:248).
In particular, Bell's differentiated typology10
Based on Bell's discussion and Figure 19.4 on page 247,
“Persons and roles in the speech situation.”
of
audience is critical for us to understand at whom a given commercial is
targeted. There are audience members, who are known, ratified, and
addressed, called “addressees”; those present, known and
ratified within the group but not directly addressed, called
“auditors”; those who are not ratified as part of the group,
called “overhearers”; and last, those whose presence is not
even known to the speaker, called “eavesdroppers.” As far as
TV commercials are concerned,
addressees and
auditors
can be viewed as target consumers who are identified with spokespersons
and characters featured in advertisements. The notion of
overhearers is equivalent to viewers who are not directly
targeted consumers because they are not acknowledged as “part of the
group” by advertising agencies. What this entails is that addressees
and auditors for KO commercials differ from those for EM commercials.
Following Bell's argument, I classify target audiences –
addressees and auditors – according to the characters featured and
language code used in the commercials.
KO commercials target the following consumers/TV viewers: (i)
elderly citizens, (ii) financially stable middle-aged males, and (iii)
Korea as a nation. This is evident from the spokespersons or characters
featured in these KO commercials, who include old grandmothers,
middle-aged salarymen,11
A
Koreanized English expression for a company employee who depends on a
monthly salary.
well-established older businessmen, and a group
of Koreans depicted with a distinct Korean national identity (e.g., with
the national flag). Whenever Korea, the nation, is mentioned as a whole,
especially in nonprofit, public announcement-type advertisements (e.g.,
fighting unemployment), only Korean is used.
Age appears to be a critical variable in language use patterns in TV
advertisements. When commercials cater to older generations, Korean
and/or Sino-Korean12
It refers to
Chinese-character-origin Korean, especially in orthography.
is
used, whereas when commercials are geared toward younger generations,
English is generally mixed with Korean. For instance, in an ad where a
middle-aged, upper-middle-class businessman is featured, Sino-Korean is
used. On the other hand, when a young businessman with more or less the
same socioeconomic status is featured, English mixing is used. There seems
to be a connection between Sino-Korean and
Kisengseytay13 versus English and
Sinseytay.
14 Sino-Korean is not expected to
be used in commercials for the new generation. English is not expected to
be used in commercials for the older generation. If this alliance between
language and generation is violated in a given commercial, this
“marked” choice invites implicature. For instance, English
mixing could be exploited as a linguistic representation of youthfulness
and techno-savvyness “unusual” for the older generation.
Conversely, Sino-Korean might be used without English to indicate
traditional values that need to be restored in the younger
generations.
Certain categories of products are advertised in Korean-only
commercials.
First, there is Korean food (e.g., rice, Korean plum drink, Korean
noodles, Korean meat) or home appliances for preparing Korean food (e.g.,
a specialized refrigerator for kimchi15
Korean fermented pickled cabbage.
). TV commercials
for refrigerators specifically designed for storing kimchi present
interesting linguistic evidence of the association between English and
modernity. Although kimchi is truly unique to Korea, if a spokesperson is
a middle-aged male, only Korean is used. However, if the character
featured is an attractive young housewife with a professional career,
English mixing is used.
Sponsors whose company names are in Korean or/and Sino-Korean tend
to advertise their products only in Korean. Examples include
(Nonghyep, Farmers Association),
(Taywung Ceyak, Big Bear Pharmaceutical,
(Mokwuchon, Cow Breeding Village),
(Tongyanghwacay, Oriental Fire Insurance),
(Phwulmwuwen, Green Grass Pasture),
(Pingguley, Korean mimetic word for ‘grin’), and
(Pwuchaypyo, Asian Paper Fan).
Language and identity in EM commercials
In this section, I discuss commercials in EM in contrast with those in
KO in terms of featured identities and endorsed messages. I argue that
modernity is associated with these identities, and English is a linguistic
mechanism that allows this modernity to be expressed. EM TV commercials
included in the corpus analysis represent the following classes of people:
rebellious teenagers, college students with an unconventional mindset,
young, stylish career women, Misicok16
Young married women looking and acting like single women. It
has positive connotations.
, self-reliant elementary school
children, fun-loving, young male office workers, and looks-conscious young
“metrosexuals.”
17 I argue that these representations demonstrate what modernity is
intended to mean for Korean TV viewers/consumers. First, it means
having the younger generations' work ethic, “work hard and play
hard,” which differs from the older generations' “work
only, no play.” EM TV commercials feature young salarymen
in button-down shirts and khakis talking about weekend leisure activities.
This sharply contrasts with older salarymen in business suits
with leather briefcases, who look serious and tired from overwork. In an
EM commercial about a credit card, young office employees discuss their
fun weekend activities. Their idea of shopping is to buy bikinis for their
girlfriends. Shopping is an alien concept for the older-generation males
who are featured predominantly in KO commercials. Buying a bikini for a
spouse would be inconceivable. The young office employees' idea of
playing sports is to surf or to play tennis. When the voice-over says
“sports,” thinking bubbles appear over their heads, and they
daydream about surfing while vacationing on a tropical island.
Second, modernity means that people care about product appearance or
packaging as much as they care about functions. For instance, the main
copy and voice-over for a cell phone named Cyon in an EM
commercial says “Looks good” rather than “Works
well.” Third, anything high-tech, fast, and efficient has to do with
modernity. Fourth, a “fusion” of global and local – a
“hybridity” of some sort – is viewed as
“hip,” and this hipness is often an indication of modernity
and connected with young people. Fifth, being rebellious, edgy, and unique
are typical characteristics of modern youthfulness featured in EM
commercials. Sixth, powerful and successful young career women represent a
subpopulation of modern Koreans. Table 5
presents a comparative summary of identity elements associated with KO and
EM commercials.
Comparative summary of KO vs. EM associated identity.
In the following subsections, the linguistic construction of modernity
in Korean TV commercials, in particular in the domains of technology,
gender roles, and taste as a cultural form – will be empirically
discussed in terms of how the interface between identity constructions and
modernity is linguistically deployed.
Modernity and technology
In the domain of technology, commercials about cellular phones, cars,
computers, and home appliance electronics are included. Interestingly,
contrasts between conservative and progressive, traditional and modern,
and old and young are clearly represented. Each of these dichotomies is
correlated with the presence or absence of English use. A case in point is
presented in example (1), a KO commercial:
18 Brand of cellular phone. This
Sino-Korean word is presented in Chinese characters in the original
copy.
This commercial advertises a cellular phone specially designed for
elderly people. The name of the phone is the Sino-Korean word
(Hyo) ‘filial piety’, which is orthographically
presented in Hanca (Chinese characters). Hyo is a concept from
Confucianism which stresses the importance of sons' and
daughters' lifelong devotion and reverence to their parents. The main
character featured in this commercial is an old lady in a rural area. She
is saying goodbye to her children who reside in the city. The voice-over
is: “She says she doesn't need a cell phone, but
…” The ad offers a cheaper rate for parents who have a rather
tight, fixed income and promises that the functions are not too
complicated for senior citizens to handle. As the name of the product
indicates, buying this cell phone for one's aging parents is part of
one's duty or obligation toward them.
In contrast, the same company advertises a cellular phone aimed at
teenagers, as in EM example (2). Orthographically, the main copy is
exclusively in English.
KT is a company name, an acronym for Korea
Telecommunications. In this commercial, the novel use of the noun
KT as a verb is similar to the tag line of a Yahoo TV commercial
in America: “Do you Yahoo?” In addition, notice the product
name Bigi, which is the root form of the Korean verb
(bigita) ‘to end in a tie’ or ‘to come out
even.’ Even the Korean root of the verb is chopped off and written
in roman script, not in Korean. Technically speaking, roman script is not
associated exclusively with English but with the West. However,
orthographic representations in roman are frequently called
yenge, which refers to the English language.
This is a cell phone promotion that allows a couple or two friends to
share their unused number of text messages. Two teenagers in school
uniforms are featured. One has many white balls, intended to symbolize
text messages, and the other has fewer white balls. The one with more
balls digs out white balls with a shovel and dumps them into the
other's empty plastic container. The idea is that two consumers have
their accounts connected, and the one who sends more text messages than he
or she is allowed does not have to pay extra if his or her partner has
some unused text messages left. Teenagers and other young consumers use
the text-message function more than the older generations do. One has to
be familiar with how to send text messages and be quick with the
fingertips on the keyboard. These skills are not easy to acquire for
elderly citizens like those featured in example (1).
Examples (1) and (2) show that Sino-Korean is associated with older
people who are not technologically sophisticated enough to deal with text
messaging, whereas English is associated with younger people who are quick
and up-to-date with the most current technology.
The three-way correlation among English, modernity, and youth is best
exemplified in another commercial for a cellular phone, shown in (3). A
young woman in a tank top and baggy jeans screams into a microphone like a
punk-rock pop star:
The name of the cell phone is TTL. The main copy reads
Made in twenty and the voice-over is also in English, read by the
spokesperson herself. This commercial features a special cell phone
promotional deal for which only consumers 20 years old or younger are
eligible. Thus, the word twenty in made in twenty
indicates the age limit for this deal. English is once again associated
with youthfulness. This youthfulness often manifests itself in being
rebellious, refusing to act the same as anyone else, and striving to be
unique.
The younger generations are also as concerned with what cell phones
look like as with their functions and quality. The TV commercial in (4)
for a camera cellular phone, using more advanced visual technology, uses
only English. In this commercial, a beautiful young woman lying on the
grass on her back answers her phone, and her boyfriend appears on its
screen:
This phone, whose brand name is Cyon, has an advanced
function which allows users to see each other while they are talking. The
young woman in the commercial extends her beautiful long legs in the air
to show them to her boyfriend and blows a kiss to him. Her nice-looking
legs go well with the copy, which says that the phone itself looks good.
It displays a young woman who is not self-conscious about revealing her
best feature and is not afraid of making a public display of affection
toward her boyfriend, which is incompatible with older generations'
values regarding romance and courting. This is compatible, however, with
the image of young, modern females who are honest about their feelings
with their partners. This modern representation uses English as its
medium.
Similarly, commercial (5) uses English in the copy. The name of the
cell phone is in English, and the characters featured are young college
students:
The scene is a party, and a number of female students are paying
attention to one male student. He thinks that he is checking these women
out by secretly taking pictures with his cell phone. However, it turns out
that he is the one who is being carefully observed and photographed by all
the women at the party. The copy certainly transmits the
“exciting” and “always ready” party spirit of most
young people. This commercial does not portray young females as passive
objects of the male gaze. Rather, they are depicted as aggressive
initiators in the “checking out” scene. These images project a
reversal of traditional female and male roles in exploring romantic
interests in Korea.
Although I have been arguing that linguistic modernity is expressed
through the use of English and that commercials targeting older
generations are shown to use Korean only and/or Sino-Korean, there are
some interesting counterexamples. For instance, example (6) features a
middle-aged male in a cell phone commercial in EM. What is interesting
about this ad is that the middle-aged man is portrayed as more up-to-date
with recent cell phone technology than a young female standing behind him
in a long queue during the morning rush hour at a subway station. Thus, in
this commercial, the older generation's “unusual”
sophistication with technology is linguistically depicted via English
mixing:
The idea is that this cell phone, named KMerce, provides
total mobile commerce service: It replaces a subway pass, bus pass, train
ticket, and so forth. Instead of purchasing a subway pass on a daily or
monthly basis, KMerce cell phone users can scan their phone over the
turnstile at the subway station. It is automatically connected with the
commuter's bank account, which means that consumers do not have to be
concerned with whether their bill payment is overdue every month. The
young female subway commuter who witnesses what this middle-aged man does
is portrayed as completely in awe of him. This commercial demonstrates
that young people do not associate older generations with new high-tech
products. What is significant about this commercial is the use of English
in engaging the older generation with unexpected modernity. The
convenient, quick, hassle-free total service deal with this cell phone is
expressed in English.
The alliance between English mixing and younger generations is also
present in car commercials. In those aimed at younger people, there is no
trace of Sino-Korean orthographic representation. Instead, English mixing
is used to reinforce a set of characteristics associated with modernity
– powerful, edgy, and young. Proper nouns for the names of cars in
examples (7)–(9), such as Avante, Kalos, and
Musso, are written in roman script. Although they could be argued
to be European language-based rather than exclusively English-based names,
South Koreans perceive roman orthographic representations as English.19
A similar point is addressed in connection
with example (2).
Example (7) is a case in point:
This commercial advertises a compact car which is affordably priced
for young consumers. The spokesperson is a female violinist in her
twenties, pictured on a foreign college campus. The young violinist
presumably studies music abroad and is supposed to represent an
independent, young, successful female artist. For this consumer to further
her education, English is essential. She is seen as talented and
recognized as a powerful person. This commercial also promotes a positive,
strong young female role model. The use of English strengthens its
association with modernity, which is equated with strong, adventurous, and
young qualities.
The foregoing car commercial implies a connection between language
code and the type of car or identity associated with potential buyers.
Example (8) below makes this connection explicit by making specific
reference to the relation between cars and generations. It is about the
“generation shift” in the car industry. English mixing is used
to represent this generation shift:
This commercial shows a young female in the driver's seat. She
picks up a male in an astronaut uniform from the sidewalk and drives away.
As the copy says, this is a compact economy car, reasonably priced for
young owners. To convey the welcoming spirit for the birth or launching of
this new car, the English greeting Hi! is used. This is an
example of English being portrayed as the language of casual youth
culture. Hi! is suitable for expressing an informal yet
enthusiastic welcome, as the exclamation mark indicates.
In the next example, the concept of “generation” once
again becomes relevant in the choice of language code. The sports utility
vehicle (SUV) commercial in (9) specifically targets ‘the next
generation’. As the copy demonstrates, Chaseytay, which
literally refers to the ‘next generation’, refuses to be
ordinary:
This SUV is equipped to handle outdoor leisure activities in rugged
terrain. The next generation is portrayed as active, and it needs an
active sports utility vehicle. This generation refuses to settle for a
“boring” sedan.
Modernity and gender roles
Another domain at the interface between identity construction and
modernity in advertising discourse is closely connected with how gender
roles and images are redefined and reinterpreted. In particular, the way
that contemporary female identities are featured in EM commercials
presents supporting evidence for the theoretical claim that English use is
linked to modernity. I will now contrast how female identities are
presented in KO commercials with those in EM. Example (10) is in Korean
and Sino-Korean, with no trace of English:
In this commercial, a Korean mother runs a relay in her son's
school sports event. Children run first in this event, and then they give
their batons to their mothers, who finish the race. This particular
mother's son falls down, but she picks him up and runs fast with
determination to win the race. Biting her lips and staring firmly at the
finish line indicate her resilience.
One of the criteria for good-quality hot pepper paste is spiciness; in
other words, the hotter the better. Kochwucang is unique to
Korean food, as quintessentially Korean as kimchi. To express
“Koreanness,” Korean is used. The identity associated with
this Korean mother in (10) is not that of a career woman in sophisticated
business attire. Rather, she can easily be identified as
Acwumma,20
A Korean expression for
married housewives. This dictionary type of definition is inadequate to
express its negative connotations.
which refers to
“middle-aged married women with kids – they are normally dead
busy looking and sort of fierce with permed hair and shouty voices”
(source:
Lost Seoul for foreigners in Seoul:
http://lostseouls.com/a-d.html). Most women
who are highly educated and sophisticated with professional careers do not
wish to be referred to as
Acwumma. In particular, if someone
refers to a single woman as
Acwumma, this is considered a
violation of social etiquette regarding address terms and is perceived as
rude and offensive by the addressee. The word conjures up an image of a
middle-aged full-time homemaker – not an image that is associated
with modern career-oriented young women.
It has been argued that female images in advertisements create a
fantasy world in which women's power and independence are realized
through sexuality and beauty (Machin & Thornborrow
2003, Machin & van Leeuwen 2003). The
EM commercials in my study seem to project these images to young female
consumers. Those in (11)–(17) portray women differently from the
traditional one featured in KO ads. In (11), the role of women is seen as
transitioning from traditional domesticity into career-oriented
modernity.
The women in this commercial are all dressed in black with impeccable
makeup. The whole scene is similar to a runway fashion show. They pose
like models, and each wears a hairpiece or hat ornamented with some
objects associated with the kitchen, such as gas flames, a spatula, or a
knife. What the commercial attempts to convey is the identity of a
sophisticated career woman and wife, still looking great even after
spending time cooking meals for her family, thanks to this revolutionary
gas oven. This ad purports to revolutionize women's work in the
kitchen, reducing their household chores. Whether this revolution can
ultimately result in setting women free from domestic obligations
altogether is highly debatable. Nonetheless, this commercial reflects the
urgency of meeting the needs of modern career-oriented female consumers,
who are sharply contrasted with traditional full-time homemakers. English
mixing is used as a linguistic strategy to present the notion of a modern
Korean woman demanding lifestyle changes through the use of modern
technology. The conclusion that EM ads are linked with modern Korean
women's identities finds further support from another ad for Vidal
Sassoon shampoo:
In this ad, an attractive young Korean woman in a party outfit walks
toward her girlfriend, waving at her on the street. There is an outdoor
basketball court near her in which foreign guys are playing basketball.
One of them drops the ball by accident, and it stops in front of this
beautiful young woman. She does not hesitate and instantly joins the game
and shoots a clean three-pointer. The men cheer for her, and she walks
away confidently. The copy reads, Exciting hair, Vidal Sassoon.
This copy stresses how healthy one's hair looks and how easy it is to
keep tidy with Vidal Sassoon shampoo. The ad portrays a confident woman
who is strong enough to handle physical competition with Western men
without sacrificing her femininity or style. The male basketball players
drop their jaws and are speechless. The woman smiles back at them
confidently and walks away, which indicates that it is no big deal for her
– she has done it before.
Other emerging aspects of the modern Korean woman appear to be that
she is aggressive and unreserved, as seen in an ad for Nivea deodorant
(13). Again, this ad portraying a modern female is linked with the use of
English:
In this commercial, a young male is reading the newspaper in which the
enlarged message Mind of Change appears. The expression mind
of change contrasts with Standard English change of mind not
only in form but also in meaning. The former indicates a ‘mind that
is change-oriented and yearns for change’, whereas the latter means
to ‘alter what you have in your mind.’ The door opens and a
young woman rushes in, but she looks at him and walks out instantly
because she becomes self-conscious about her sweat. Then she uses Nivea
deodorant and comes back confidently. Her gaze exudes her strong sexual
attraction to him. She smiles and comes up to him. The man appears
flattered by her interest, but at the same time surprised by her
aggressiveness. The characteristics of young Korean women featured in this
EM commercial are once again those of a woman who takes initiative in
pursuing her love interest, knows what she wants, sets her heart on it,
and gets it with great confidence.
Example (14) confirms my hypothesis that the use of English in Korean
commercials is indexed with modern gender roles for women –
intelligent, successful, outgoing and single. It illustrates a modern
single woman's lifestyle via English mixing:
In this apartment ad, a single woman in a casual outfit drinks coffee
while listening to music quietly in her beautiful apartment. Later she is
seen in a black formal dress and dines alone, drinking red wine at the
dinner table in the same apartment. Her identity is that of a young
successful woman who enjoys her single life. Essentially, the message is
that she does not have to wait until she gets married to own a beautiful
apartment like the one featured in this commercial. The apartment
building, named Xi, enables a single woman to lead an intelligent,
forerunner lifestyle. The ad suggests that this is a smart and extra
intelligent choice for single women. This extra intelligent choice is
represented with English mixing, not by the exclusive use of Korean or
Sino-Korean.
The next example comes from a camera commercial. The use of English is
once again indexed with the modern characteristics of a Korean woman
– in control and assertive. A young female takes pictures with an
Olympus camera. She zooms in on one particular male she finds attractive.
Once she pushes the button on the camera, he gets lifted up in the air and
cannot freely control his body movements. She is in control, and
he is controlled. The copy reads:
The identity of the young female in this commercial is not that of the
dominated; rather, it is that of a dominating woman portrayed as reversing
traditional gender roles. Another feature noticeable in this copy is word
play: neither An eye wants nor Eyes want as would be
expected in Standard English. The voice-over Eye want is an
instance of word play attempting to yield another reading of the copy,
based on the homophonic I want. This intensifies the main message
that she knows what she wants and she is in control, which reinforces a
modern identity for young Korean women. This type of word play is
certainly constructed for and will be appreciated more by Korean-English
bilinguals than by English monolinguals. English monolinguals might not be
able to ignore what they perceive as grammatical mistakes regarding the
use of articles and morphemes and thus might not value the pun
I/Eye want.
Male roles in the EM commercials in this study do not rely on
conventional notions of masculinity. Predominantly young, urban, single
males are featured in the EM commercials, and they are often characterized
as “metrosexual”; images of so-called alpha males are absent
from these EM commercials. These metrosexuals readily participate in a
discourse that is traditionally classified as within the female domain of
interest, such as skin care and fashion. The following ad is a case in
point:
In the commercial about liquid foundation for men above, two men pass
by each other in the locker room in slow motion. The voice-over in this ad
is supposed to be an overt verbalization of one male's “voice
in the head” admiring the other male's smooth, beautiful skin.
It states, “I wonder what he uses to make his skin look that
good.” The idea of facial beauty products for males in Korea has
been so far limited to moisturizers and skin toners. No company in Korea
– nor perhaps in other countries, for that matter – has
marketed liquid foundation for males until now. Unlike moisturizers and
skin toners, liquid foundation can be categorized as “true”
makeup. This ad demonstrates that typically female-oriented consumer
culture, such as putting on makeup, is no longer identified as exclusively
female. It is highly unlikely that the current beauty-product market will
start selling lipstick to male consumers, but at least liquid foundation
has become acceptable to young metrosexual consumers in contemporary South
Korea.
Modernity and taste as a cultural form
The third domain in which KO and EM commercials contrast in terms of
expressing modernity or the lack of it is that of taste in foods and
beverages. I will show evidence that EM represents modern taste, whereas
KO represents traditional taste.
Example (17) contains only Korean and Sino-Korean. No English mixing
is utilized. This ad is about a cold green tea drink:
An Asian woman with a straw hat is standing in the middle of a wide
field in which tea leaves are grown. The copy stresses that good tea
requires a good natural environment or ideal climate. Since green tea is
considered to be of Asian origin, Sino-Korean is used to emphasize that
green tea grows better in its original Asian climate – Asian wind,
fog, and soil. The name of this green tea drink is
(Chawulin), a coined compound noun composed of the noun
(cha ‘tea’) and a verb stem with the perfect
aspectual ending
(wulin ‘soaked out’). It shows a clear absence of
English. This commercial demonstrates that anything traditionally
identifiable as Korean or Asian is advertised in Korean or Sino-Korean. On
the other hand, TV commercials for coffee use a mixture of Western
languages such as English, French, and Italian. The mixture of Western
languages is frequently perceived as just English, just as any form of
non-Asian orthographic representation is viewed as Western. Anything
Western is synonymous with English, regardless of its source language. In
other words, English is depicted as a representative of all Western
languages.
21 For earlier discussion on a
similar point, refer to the examples related to car commercials
(7–9).
Here are a few examples from coffee commercials:
Example (19) stresses how strong and powerful espresso is and draws an
analogy between strong coffee and the intense emotions involved in
passionate love. Espresso and café latte refer to two different
preparations of coffee outside Asia, in the American context, for example.
Espresso is strong, dark-roasted, black coffee. Café latte is
espresso served with plenty of steamed milk, which makes it smooth, light
brown, and not bitter or harsh. An interesting twist in meaning of the
product name Café latte espresso provides an instance of
local adaptation and creativity, which successfully delivers what it means
to be in love for Koreans – the yin (feminine) and
yang (masculine) of the relationship. Thus, in this Korean TV
commercial, the bonding of espresso with café latte is attempting
to convey the masculine passion and feminine sweetness of love.
In example (20), as soon as a young female character looks at the
canned coffee drink named French café, it is transformed
into a good-looking man with a devilish image. The copy explains that her
wish to be in this man's room has finally come true and implicitly
conveys her mounting sexual tension and anticipation, which goes against
traditional Korean values regarding romance. It is difficult for her to
resist him.
The linguistic strategy of selecting either EM or KO depends on the
products advertised and the identities presented in each commercial. TV
commercials about alcoholic drinks provide another set of good examples.
Korean rice wine is advertised in Korean and Sino-Korean, featuring a
group of middle-aged men in suits and ties, whereas beer commercials are
in EM and feature young college students or young office employees in
casual outfits vacationing on an exotic island or enjoying their happy
hours after work.
Example (21), sharply contrasted with the beer commercials in
(22)–(25), provides a prime example of the linguistic contrast
between “old” versus “young.” Example (21) lacks
English altogether and advertises a Korean rice wine named
Paykseycwu, literally ‘100-year-old rice wine’. Its
targeted consumers are appa (‘dad’) as the main copy
indicates, referring to married men with children. The appa is
not single any more, unlike the young college students featured in beer
commercials:
This wine is supposed to contain ingredients that are traditionally
used in Asian herbal medicine. The name has a double meaning; it could
mean that the rice wine itself is 100 years old with a long tradition,
and/or that this wine has health benefits, and whoever consumes it
will be healthy enough to live 100 years. The lexical item appa
sums up the identity of married Korean males with children featured in
this KO commercial. In terms of taste, they are associated with
traditional Korean rice wine and linguistically, which is more
interesting, with Sino-Korean. This is an age group who might arguably be
most conscious of longevity. Younger generations do not have to be worried
yet about getting old and having health problems.
Beer commercials are geared more toward the younger crowd. Their
selling point is not that beer will help consumers improve their health,
but how beautiful the bottle is. Characters featured in these commercials
are college students in Hawaiian shirts enjoying a vacation on an exotic
island, or young office workers enjoying a loud party in a beer
garden.
Example (22) defies the usual sensory appeal of beer – its taste
– and instead appeals to its visual qualities. Younger generations
are perceived to care as much about what the product looks like as about
how it tastes. What is easy on the eyes is considered easy on the palate,
too. This type of sentiment is not observable in KO commercials:
Another critical characteristic which is argued to be closely related
to modernity and globalization is hybridization (Bhatt
2003, Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999,
Giddens 1990, Hall
1996, Hall et al. 1996). In his
discussion specific to language mixing in global advertising, Bhatia
(2001:200) contends that “hybridization in
compounding is another feature of divergence from advertising in the inner
circle.”22
In his discussion of
“Three Concentric Circles” based on types of spread, patterns
of acquisition, functional allocations of English, Kachru (1992:356) defines the “Inner Circle” as
“the traditional cultural and linguistic bases of
English.”
Example (23) contains an instance of
hybridization in the form of English mixing, which succeeds in achieving
the effect of whimsical word play:
The name of this alcoholic drink is a hybridized noun which consists
of English Hi (short for high) and the English
orthographic representation of the Korean word chu
‘alcoholic drink’. This alcoholic drink is unique because it
comes in different fruit flavors. As the name indicates, this drink has
“kicked the stakes up a notch” in the alcoholic beverage
industry by introducing the first fruit-flavored beer in South Korea. The
characters featured in this commercial are young Koreans in a trendy beer
garden.
The example of hybridization discussed on page 85 is not unique. Table 6 illustrates some other examples of
hybridization in Korean TV commercials. E stands for English and K for
Korean.
Selected examples of hybridization.
Given the scripted and economy-driven nature of advertising discourse,
linguistic hybridity in the form of English mixing in South Korean TV
commercials is a carefully constructed exemplar of semiotic creativity
with the marketing of modernity in mind.
CONCLUSION
The findings of this study indicate that there is a correlation
between language use and the expression of modernity. This connection
between English use and modernity construction is empirically evident in
three domains of TV commercials: technology, gender roles, and taste as a
cultural form. Although these are three discrete domains in the discourse
of advertising, a common theoretical claim can be made, supported by
empirical evidence across these subdivisions of linguistic constructions
of modernity. There is a language-code dichotomy representing
“traditional” versus “modern,” “old”
versus “young,” “conventional” versus
“innovative,” “conservative” versus
“liberal.” KO is connected with the first member of each pair,
and EM with the second.
For instance, within the same domain, say technology, KO cellular
phone commercials are associated with an old lady in the countryside who
is not “up to speed” with advanced modern technology, while EM
cellular phone advertisements portray teenagers or young adults with
unconventional mindsets. Age is found to be a major element in the
linguistic construction of modernity. In EM commercials, an element of
modernity is distinctly present, whereas KO commercials lack this element
entirely. The noticeable absence of English in Korean commercials
signifies tradition and not the construction of modernity.
However, this is not to say that the alignment between language use
and modernity, which is often associated with age-sensitive subpopulations
of Korean viewers and consumers, cannot be violated. In fact, when this
alignment is broken, it poses an interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon.
When EM is used for a normally old, traditional, conservative middle-aged
adult in a commercial, it means that this individual possesses an
unexpected element of modernity. Conversely, when KO is used alongside a
normally new, progressive, revolutionary teenager in an advertisement, the
message is understood to promote a traditional element that is believed to
be lacking in younger generations.
EM is a representative example of linguistic hybridization that
enables young Koreans to explore two linguistic codes at their disposal:
Korean and English. Korean-English bilinguals express their linguistic
dexterity and creativity through hybridization and localization. The use
of English-mixing strategies reinforces modernity in the newly emerging
population of young Korean-English bilinguals in contemporary South Korea.
Being an English-knowing and English-using bilingual is one major exponent
of modernity.
In his discussion of hybridity with respect to English in India, Bhatt
(2003:18) asserts that “the linguistic
convergence of its form and functions gives rise to possibilities for new
meanings and, at the same time, presents a mechanism to negotiate and
navigate between a global identity and local practices.” South Korea
may not present a sociolinguistic context of language use as multilingual
and polyglossic as that of India. However, this new hybridity allows
younger generations in South Korea to enter globalized discourses about
technology, pop culture, and gender through English, while enabling them
to stay rooted in their ethnolinguistic histories through Korean. For
modern Koreans, linguistic hybridity – codemixing in English –
resolves the tension between global (i.e., dominant English and American
culture) and local practices.
This type of linguistic hybridity is not scarce in other genres of
popular culture. In particular, popular music presents abundant examples
of linguistic hybridity in South Korea. Lee 2002
argues that English mixing allows young Korean-English bilinguals to
freely express socially repressed feelings such as sexual desires,
derogatory expressions, and anger. English mixing enables young Korean
musicians to exercise their artistic freedom without being offensive to
the conservative censorship board or older-generation audiences whose
verbal repertoire is unlikely to contain English. Young Korean-English
bilinguals' revolutionary and anti-establishment spirit is expressed
through English (Lee 2004). This claim is
further empirically strengthened by the fact that one subgenre of pop
music called Thulothu,23
‘Trot’ in English. Japan also has a similar
version called Enka.
which is specifically targeted
toward older generations, does not contain English. Its lyrics are
predominantly in Korean or Sino-Korean. This absence of English supports
one of the main claims I have made: that age is a key factor that predicts
language use and its implications with respect to modernity.
This comparative analysis of Korean-only and English-mixing
commercials in the discourse of advertising reveals that there is a
predictable correlation between a language code and constructions of
modernity. TV commercials in South Korea present an interesting case of
three-way sociolinguistic alignment among the elements such as generation,
language, and modernity. English mixing is used to indicate younger
generations' modern identities, whereas the absence of English use in
the form of exclusive Korean and/or Sino-Korean signifies older
generations' traditional identities. When this alignment is broken,
the resulting marked choice generates a special meaning.
In terms of the interaction between identity construction and
modernity, this sharp contrast between old and new generations exists
across all three domains of advertising presented in this study. A product
featured in the same domain of technology can be advertised either
exclusively in Korean or in English mixing depending on which generation a
given commercial aims to target, as well as whether or not modernity is
being promoted. The same explanation is applicable to the remaining two
domains of the advertising corpus for the present study, gender roles and
taste in cultural forms. English mixing serves as a sociolinguistically
optimal option for young Korean-English bilinguals to express their
creative needs to identify with modernity and globalization.
