Fighting the tightrope: language ideologies, balancing acts, and figures of elusive modernity in South Korea

There has been a growing interest in how local linguistic practices are being shaped by the global force of neoliberalism. Though it is a powerful paradigm, I hope to illuminate through this dissertation how neoliberalism alone is insufficient to be held accountable for the changing meanings of English in Korea, and how invoking the framework of language ideologies allows for a more complete analysis of language change. To this end, I explore the interconnectivity of neoliberalism, displays of consumption, and language change with a focus on gender. By tracing the uptake of a particular phoneme, I examine how speakers use phonological accuracy as a tool to construct new indexical orders by appropriating chronotopic symbols of the past, reinscribing gendered narratives of Korean womanhood as figures of successful or failed modernity. These associations provide a window into the reconfiguration of language ideologies surrounding English, as well as how a new global neoliberal order is melted into the pedestrian lives of locals.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Jenna Hyojin Chi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lo, Adrienne S.
• Yoon, James H.
• Koven, Michèle
• Fagyal, Zsuzsanna

• Language ideologies
• South Korea
• Loan word phonology
• Multilingualism
• English
• Linguistic capital
• Citizenship

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Jenna Kim

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97615

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97615