[KS] (1 of 2) LL in LA : Language Landscape & Linguistential Angst or an ode to Korean 4-letter words

[Kye C Kim]

Hi,

What a fascinating and important topic!  I think it was a Koreanist who
coined the terms "scriptophelia" and "languagescape" and I would venture
that this topic appropriately belongs to Korean Studies, exploring the
battle of
languages on that most emblemtic, as a topic of modernity and commerece,
real estate of signages and billboards.

There is one work that readily come to mind when one speaks of "signage"
or "看板" and  of "Korea" by 감준만(Gang Joon-man), probably the most
incisive as well as eloquent and entertaining writer on Korean
情緖/sensibility
and definitely the most often read of the sociologist/media-commentators
today in Korea.

The article is titled (link below)
*간판*의 문화정치학: *간판은* *어떻게* *한국* *사회를*
*재현하는가*?<http://ask.nate.com/knote/view.html?num=1317136&sq=%B0%AD%C1%D8%B8%B8+%B0%A3%C6%C7%C0%BA+%BE%EE%B6%BB%B0%D4+%C7%D1%B1%B9%BB%E7%C8%B8%B8%A6+%C0%E7%C7%F6%C7%CF%B4%C2%B0%A1>
As
the article's keywords "shop sign, speedism, egalitarianism, formalism,
maximalism, cynicism" show, the article entertainingly delivers a
meditation on
the politico-cultural aspects of signage in Korea.

Insofar as your interests also appear to include "context of multilingual
setting"
it may be worth your while to look through the following book by Mr. Gang
which
discusses the 9 codes of Korea and also has the "signage" article

For completeness, the 9 codes are ‘빨리빨리’ ‘아파트’ ‘자동차’ ‘장례’ ‘전화’ ‘대학’
‘영어’ ‘혈서’ ‘간판’( chop-chop, apt, automobile, funeral, telephone, college,
English,
blood-writing, and sign-boards).  Here is the link.


   - [책] 우리사회 명암 그대로 기술 *강준만* 교수의 新 한국학 ‘9차원의
나라...<http://www.kgnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=259831> 경기신문
'최신뉴스'
   *|* 2011.02.07 22:04특별한 나라 대한민국 *강준만* 글|인물과 사상사 340쪽|1만5천원. 어릴적 스마트한
   전화기와 ...  ‘아파트’ ‘자동차’ ‘장례’ ‘전화’ ‘대학’ ‘*영어*’ ‘혈서’ ‘*간판*’)를 예리하게 진단한다. 서로를
   ...

I am not sure whether you wish to delve into the diachronic aspect of
battle of signs
and/or battle of languages/scripts; but I think it would be worthwhile to
look at it
from a historical perspective.

There are many interesting by-ways in the history of signage in Korea.  Not
going too
far back, you should look into the first whole-scale Hangulization of
billboards occassioned
by the normalization negotiations with Japan during the Park administration
in the 60's.
The visting Japanese diplomat was amazed and noted that he could not
read/recognize a single
sign in his route to and from the airport.

There is also the study by Prof. JaHyun Kim Haboush titled
"War of Scripts: The Emergence of the Vernacular National Space during the
Imjin War in Korea"
http://actualites.ehess.fr/nouvelle2897.html
if you are truly historically minded I think you would find them all very
useful guideposts.


Cheers,

Joobai

11/10/2011

PS

Just a query to the classicists in the list.
情緖 as a 정/서 돌림 strikes me as a very
recent translation word.  My own etymological
dictionary describes it as having been
coined in the process of translating Western
discipline of psychology, and this is how it
is used in Japanese and Chinese.  However,
its use in Korean always struck me as a bit
odd in this respect.  Any clarification would
be appreciated.




On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 1:09 AM, Catherine Grell <catgrell at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am currently trying to gather resources for a research paper. I wish to
> write about the role of public spaces (the linguistic landscape) in Korean
> society/culture either inside of Korea or in Korean-domiated areas outside
> of the country. I have been able to locate three sources: one written by
> Peter Backhaus in his book "Linguistic Landscape in Tokyo: A Look into the
> Linguistic Landscape," and two articles written by David Malinowski
> ("Showing Seeing in the Korean Linguistic Landscape" and "Authorship in the
> Linguistic Landscape."
>
> I was informed that a conference would be held on Nov. 11 -12 in PA
> regarding this exact topic, so I know there must be other research. Can
> anyone suggest anything?
>
> Thank you,
> Catherine
>
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