Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2004). Not just words: Korean social models and the use of honorifics. Intercultural Pragmatics, 1(2), 189-210.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.189
Abstract:
This study demonstrates that it is possible to describe cultural values and their associated communicative norms in simple terms and from an insiders’ perspective, even in the case of languages such as Korean, which is widely known for its highly culture-specific and extremely elaborate system of honorifics. Adopting NSM principles, and in particular the cultural scripts approach, the study attempts to capture and articulate Korean cultural rules about social relationships and the associated communicative norms as reflected in the honorific system and present in numerous fixed expressions. Cultural scripts are presented in both the English and Korean versions of the metalanguage.
In addition, the paper tries to articulate the shared understanding behind the existence of honorifics as a social practice, namely, that differential usage of words can send specific social messages about how interactants regard each other. In the case of Korean, relevant components include a ‘vertical’ model of society in which people are commonly thought of as ‘above’ or ‘below’ oneself, a recognized category of revered senior people (Korean 노인 noin), and the importance of relative age differences in one-to-one interaction.
More information:
This paper is part of a special issue on cultural scripts.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
