Key research themes
1. How do multilingual practices and language ideologies shape the Korean linguistic landscape and challenge monolingual norms?
This research area investigates the interplay between the dominant Korean language and the presence of foreign languages in South Korea's public spaces. By analyzing linguistic landscapes—such as public signage, advertisements, and commercial usages—scholars explore how multilingualism coexists with and confronts longstanding monolingual ideologies, actively reflecting shifts due to globalization, migration, and socio-economic factors.
2. What cognitive mechanisms underlie native and second language processing of Korean grammatical case during online comprehension?
This strand focuses on experimental psycholinguistic research delineating how native Korean speakers and second language learners process Korean nominal case markers in real-time language comprehension. Using methodologies such as eye-tracking and auditory paradigms, studies explore differential sensitivity to case information in canonical and non-canonical sentence structures, probing the mental representations and processing strategies involved.
3. How have Korean language policies and modernization efforts influenced the development of Korean literary language and language education?
This theme investigates the socio-political and institutional factors shaping Korean language planning, education, and literary language evolution during critical historical junctures. It includes archival research on academic debates, language reform movements, and education policies addressing standardization, vernacularization, and modernization from colonial liberation periods to contemporary pedagogical reforms.
4. What orthographic and phonological mechanisms characterize the Korean writing system, and how do these impact language acquisition and processing?
This area looks into the unique structural properties of Hangul and their cognitive consequences, including debates on its morphophonemic versus phonetic nature and the role of script in phonological contrasts. Research addresses how orthographic features influence language learning, speech production, and the mental representation of phonemes, providing insights into linguistic theory and practical implications for second language acquisition.