A B S T R A C TThis study investigates the construction of linguistic modernity via English mixing in the discourse of Korean television commercials. Specifically, it is concerned with Korean-English bilinguals' linguistic construction of modernity as realized in three domains of advertising: technology, gender roles, and taste as a cultural form. Four hours of commercials were video-taped in Seoul, South Korea, during weekend prime time from August through October 2002. A total of 720 advertising spots were analyzed. The findings suggest that mixing English with Korean is a linguistic mechanism for the construction of modernity in contemporary South Korea. It is argued that knowledge and use of English in South Korea is a defining linguistic expression of modernity, and the conspicuous total absence of English is linguistically disassociated from modernity. (Modernity, advertising, English and globalization, South Korea)* I N T R O D U C T I O NEnglish mixing in non-English-language advertising is one research area that has received increasing attention lately (

This study examines commercial signs in arguably the two most visited tourism districts in Seoul, namely Myeongdong and Insadong. It focuses on beauty and food businesses and analyzes featured languages and their content and roles in signage. This article argues that business types, specialized marketing focus, and intended sales pitch influence business owners’ linguistic choices. The findings of the study suggest that the beauty industry relies heavily on English in general, but the power of K‐Beauty popularized by ‘Hallyu’ (The Korean Wave) beyond Korea inevitably invites linguistic accommodation in the form of using Chinese and Japanese. In general, the business category of beauty features a more prevalent use of English than the gastronomic business in this study. Moreover, as an area specializing in traditions and cultural heritage, Insadong shows more signs exclusively in Korean than in Myeongdong.

This study examines crossing (Bucholtz 1999;Cutler 1999;Rampton 1995) in Korean hip hop Blinglish as a case study of globalization of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in popular culture. Blinglish in Korean hip hop can be understood as a prime example of "English from below" (Preisler 1999) to informally express subcultural identity and style. The findings of the study suggest that AAVE features appear at different linguistic levels including lexis, phonology, and morpho-syntax in Korean hip hop Blinglish but do not demonstrate the same degree of AAVE penetration, with a frequency-related hierarchy emerging among these linguistic components. The area of Korean hip hop Blinglish with the heaviest crossing influence from AAVE is found to be lexis followed by phonology. The presence of AAVE syntactic features is somewhat restricted in type and occurrence, indicating that the verbal markers in AAVE are considerably varied and intricate, and syntactic elements are not as easily crossed by non-AAVE speakers as lexical items.

This study discusses verbal humor in entertainment media and examines polarizing representations of English on Korean television. English is a source of stress as well as a medium of humor. Language anxiety about English speaking skills is frequently focalized and viewed as a personal challenge by Korean celebrities, but they often transform their linguistic 'complex' into humorous talk. This study argues that using English, possibly the most revered and yet the most feared language in Korea, in humor is sociolinguistically significant, embodying attitudinal, emotional, and experiential ambivalence about English in globalization-minded contemporary Korea. The findings of the study suggest that generationconscious ageism regarding English proficiency typically characterizes senior citizens as sociolinguistically underperforming, which sometimes forces them to be in a vulnerable position both in familial and social contexts. Increasing use of English on Korean television divides bilingual viewers and monolingual viewers and whether one can be entertained and humored by television programs may become another Englishrelated stratification variable

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