Linguistic Constructions of Modernity: English Mixing in Korean Television

Commercials
Author(s): Jamie Shinhee Lee
Source: Language in Society , Feb., 2006, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 59-91
Published by: Cambridge University Press

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Language in Society 35, 59-91. Printed in the United States of America
DOI: 10.1017/S0047404506060039

Linguistic constructions of modernity:

English mixing in Korean television commercials

JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

Department of Humanities
University of Michigan-Dearborn
3069 CB
4901 Evergreen Rd.
Dearborn, MI 48128-1491, USA
jamilee @ umd. umich. edu

ABSTRACT

This 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 mo-
dernity 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 Oc-
tober 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 ex-
pression of modernity, and the conspicuous total absence of English is lin-
guistically disassociated from modernity. (Modernity, advertising, English
and globalization, South Korea)*

INTRODUCTION

English mixing in non-English-language advertising is one research area that

has received increasing attention lately (Bhatia 1992; Cheshire & Moser 1994;
Cook 1992; Haarmann 1989; Martin 1999, 2002a, 2002b; Piller 2000, 2001, 2003;
Takashi 1990).The majority of previous studies on English use in advertise-
ments deal mostly with European language contexts, with a few exceptions (e.g.,
Bhatia 1992, Jung 2001, Takashi 1990, Haarmann 1989). This study addresses
what has been relatively ignored so far, bringing data from a non-Western lan-
guage context to the focus on English mixing in advertising, in this case in South
Korea. The evidence presented in this article will demonstrate that a "modern"
identity in contemporary South Korea is virtually guaranteed through acquisi-
tion and use of English. In other words, my main argument is that the acquisition
of English linguistic capital is the necessary means of indexing modern identity
in that context.

i 2006 Cambridge University Press 0047-4045/06 $12.00 59

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

I will focus on Korean television commercials to show how English is used

creatively as a MEDIUM to present MESSAGES of linguistic modernity. This article,
then, augments the empirical and theoretical scope of previous research that lim-
ited English mixing in advertising to symbolic uses (e.g., Cheshire & Moser
1994, Haarmann 1989). It also extends the empirical scope of studies on bilin-
guals' creativity, which has so far been limited to contact literatures (e.g., Kachru
1986a, 1986b, 1987). Creativity in the realm of popular culture intended for wide
commercialized dissemination has not received much serious scholarly atten-
tion. The creative use of word play and hybrid linguistic forms in the discourse
of Korean TV commercials draws specifically on bilingual copywriters' ability
to create them and the viewers' ability to understand them. This study will ex-
amine (i) motivations for English mixing in Korean TV commercials, and (ii)
how English mixing contributes to identity construction in close conjunction with
reinforcing modernity.

PREVIOUS STUDIES: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Most research on codeswitching and codemixing' ca

categories: the formal/structural-linguistic approaches focused on structure con-
straints (e.g., Azuma 1993, Belazi, Rubin & Toribio 1994, Bhatt 1997, Bokamba
1989, Clyne 1987, DiSciullo, Muysken & Singh 1986, Pfaff 1979, Poplack 1980,
Myers-Scotton 1993, Sridhar & Sridhar 1980), and the functional/social-
pragmatic approaches centered on social motivations (e.g., Auer 1995, Blom &
Gumperz 1972, Gross 2000, Heller 1988, Gal 1987, Li, Milroy & Ching 1999,
Myers-Scotton 1997). The majority of these studies have been based predomi-
nantly on naturally occurring, spoken codeswitched utterances in interpersonal
interaction.
Studies specific to English mixing in mass media, especially in advertising, have
been relatively new (e.g., Bhatia 1987, 1992, 2001; Cheshire & Moser 1994; Cook
1992; Haarmann 1989; Martin 1999, 2002a, 2002b; Piller 2000,2001, 2003). These
studies can be categorized as focusing on the following areas: (i) symbolism in
use (e.g., Cheshire & Moser 1994, Haarmann, 1989), (ii) identity construction (e.g.,
Gao & Pandharipande 2002; Piller 2000, 2001, 2003), or (iii) globalization (e.g.,
Bhatia 1987, 1992, 2001; Martin 1999, 2002a, 2002b; Myers 1999).
In order to attain a more nuanced understanding of the generalizations of En-
glish mixing in advertising discourse, I argue that the convergence of the last
two - identity construction and globalization - is necessary. Specifically, I will
argue that in the globalizing world, the tension between global discourses and
local practices produces hybridity that is interlinked with modernity by its en-
gagement with English, and that the linguistic expression of modernity in South
Korea is guaranteed by English bilingualism.
One of the first studies specific to advertising in the Far East that discusses
the functions of multilingual advertising is Haarmann's (1989) research on Jap-

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

anese television advertisements. He argues that English is used

cause there is no expectation that Japanese viewers understand
or hear. Simply put, English use in Japanese TV commercials is argued to have
less to do with message conveyance and more to do with appealing to TV view-
ers. Haarmann claims that the use of English words in Japanese advertising is
primarily meant to appeal to the public's positive feelings toward international-
ization, and not for practical communication. His account, however, cannot be
generalized to English mixing in Korean TV commercials because the latter con-
tain various instances of English mixing that rely on bilingual viewers' under-
standing of what they hear and see.
If English mixing in Korean advertising is, in fact, intended to serve merely
as an "attention-getter" (Jung 2001) or simply to create positive "feelings" about
modernity and internationalization and has little to do with actual understanding
of a message, we would not expect Korean advertisers and copywriters to use
English expressions that deviate from the so-called canonical use of Standard
English. If the Korean case were similar to what Haarmann argues for the Japa-
nese case, where the public neither understands nor uses English for practical
communication, what difference would it make if Korean advertisers simply used
Standard English rather than Koreanized innovations? In fact, English use in
Korean commercials indicates that English is not used simply to create the im-
pression of a modern, fashionable style. If the public's understanding of TV com-
mercials that contain English mixing were not an issue at all, as Haarmann seems
to suggest, it is not clear why Korean bilingual copywriters would opt for Kore-
anized English (such as moving bra in place of Standard English forms such as
underwire bra or push-up bra)?
Notice that this is not an example of localization of international ad cam-
paigns; rather, it is domestically constructed strictly for domestic viewers.
Labeling this type of Koreanized English in advertising as an indication of inter-
ference or incomplete acquisition would be somewhat misleading and simplis-
tic. As Blommaert (2003:616) suggests, "'good' and status-carrying English in
the periphery may be 'bad' and stigma-carrying English in the core of the world
system." As far as the meaning-accessibility of the message is concerned, push-up
bra is equally as intelligible to Korean viewers as moving bra. This is not to say,
however, that there is a total absence of inequalities in English proficiency across
creators and consumers of commercials in South Korea.
What needs to be recognized is that the trend of mixing English in non-
English advertising may be globalized, but the kind of innovative English that
works is highly localized. For instance, hybridized English in Indian advertising
might evoke an image of modernity, but its message is not necessarily intelligi-
ble to South Korean consumers. In order for their ads to make sense, Korean
advertisers customize their English in domestically aired advertising in such a
way that it can target a wider range of viewers in Korea across stratified levels of
English proficiency.

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

As Hill (1999: 546) asserts, "The sphere of the market is an important zone
for mixing and crossing." In this sense, commercial discourse such as advertis-
ing becomes a pertinent sociolinguistic site in which to investigate crossing and
mixing. The linguistic practices of "styling the other" and "crossing," which re-
fer to the use of outgroup linguistic styles, are empirically documented in Bell
1999, Bucholtz 1999, Cutler 1999, and Lo 1999. However, building one's own
identity by styling the other is not without a risk. In fact, Hill (1999: 552) argues
that "this constructed self will be rejected as 'inauthentic"' and that "the crosser
will be rejected as, in Cutler's words, 'a "wannabe"' by peers of both 'own' and
'other' group."
As for identity construction in advertising, Piller (2001:153) proposes to view
mixing as a compilation of hybrid social identities that are shifting "from polit-
ical to economic" ones. She argues that this identity change influences a shift
"from monolingual practices to multilingual and English-dominant ones." Piller
discusses multiple orientations in identity constructions. There are International,
Future, Success, Sophistication, and Fun orientations. English is used to address
the reader as an international, career-oriented worker. The use of lexical items
such as tomorrow andfuture technologies indicates that the reader is portrayed
as future-oriented. Professional executives are often featured in English-mixing
advertisements in Germany, and they are depicted as being "endowed with
wealth" and leading a "desirable lifestyle." These linguistic attitudinal creations
are the ideological work of English in the globalizing world and find support in
the present study.
Piller 2001 suggests that the aforementioned five orientations "emerge from"
her bilingual advertisement corpus. In order to make this claim, she should have
contrasted German-only ads, which constitute 26.6% of her corpus, with mixed
ones to see whether these characteristics are in fact unique to bilingual ads. With-
out the presentation of a comparative analysis of "narratees"' orientations in
German-only advertising versus those in bilingual advertising, her theoretical
claim about the characteristics of bilingual narratees would not provide an accu-
rate account. Thus, the present study attempts a comparative treatment of Korean-
only commercials versus English-mixed commercials to validate the theoretical
claim that English mixing achieves a certain goal that is not sought in Korean-
only commercials - that is, the linguistic construction of modernity.
Similar to Piller 2001, the present study makes a connection between lan-
guage and its associated identities. This connection is treated as an essential com-
ponent in understanding identity construction and its interface with modernity.
Piller (2001:153) contends that advertisements in Germany "valorize German-
English bilingualism and set it up as the strongest linguistic currency for the
German business elite." Her findings, however, do not suggest that there exists
an age-related language subgroup association within the same business elite class.
Interestingly, my study indicates that among identities indexed with modernity
that hinge on the use of English, age turns out to be a critical variable. For in-

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

stance, a successful business executive in Piller's study is identified as someone

who is bilingual in English and German and who values quality, tradition, and
authenticity. In contrast, I argue that if the successful executive is a middle-aged
male, then only Korean or Sino-Korean2 is used, whereas if he is a young man,
English mixing is used. An individual who "values tradition" in this study is not
indexed as modern; therefore, there is a clear absence of English in those types
of commercials.
Identities represented in the form of orientations in Piller's study seem to
overlap with one another. For instance, properties of success orientation can in-
tersect with those of sophistication orientation. In order to deal with this inter-
secting quality of identities, I propose that the MODERN IDENTITY be viewed as a
superordinate identity that encompasses all of the above; that is, being modem
subsumes being international, progressive, futuristic, and fun-loving. This is not
to claim that all of these orientations are present simultaneously at all times. For
example, a combination of being successful and fun-loving could be perceived
as being modern, without the element of being futuristic.
More importantly, an understanding of identity construction work in Korean
TV advertising discourse requires the addition of one critical subordinate iden-
tity to those that identity construction-oriented researchers such as Piller have
proposed: language skills. The findings of the present study demonstrate that
being a Korean-English bilingual is arguably the most determining identity re-
quired for one to claim membership in modernity. Being an English-knowing
and English-using Korean is one of the most significant characteristics of "being
modem" in contemporary South Korea.
What is meant by "modernity" in this study is based on an overview of re-
search conducted by scholars who worked specifically on the notion of moder-
nity in connection with GLOBALIZATION (e.g., Bilton 1996; Flowerdew 2002;
Giddens 1990; Hall 1996; Hall, Held & McLennan 1996; McGrew 1996a, 1996b;
O'Brien, Penna & Hay 1999; Robertson 1992; Waters 1995).
Hall et al. (1996:432) argue that "the direct result of increasing globalization
is a sense of VARIETY of values and customs and people become more attached
to their LOCALITY as the appropriate forum for self-assertion" (emphasis added).
In their discussion of the impact of globalization and the resultant tension be-
tween the "global" and the "local," they argue that modernity accelerated the
pace of cultural innovation, the production of new languages, and the pursuit of
novelty and experiment as cultural values.
McGrew (1996a:273) proposes that globalization has two dimensions: "scope
(or stretching) and intensity (or deepening)." In another article, McGrew (1 996b:
470) warns that the popular use of the term "globalization," which is often asso-
ciated with people's awareness that "modern communication technology has
shrunk the globe," is inaccurate. This so-called common-sense understanding of
the term "globalization" often neglects to deal with its multiple consequences.
For McGrew, globalization is "a process through which events, decisions, and

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

activities in one part of the world can become significant in distant parts of the
globe" (I 996b:470). The multiplicity of linkages and interconnections that tran-
scend nation-states which is represented in the form of globalization "reinforces
social and cultural boundaries while simultaneously creating 'shared' cultural
and social spaces in which there is an evolving 'hybridization' of ideas, values,
knowledge, and institutions" (1996b:479). One instantiation of this hybridiza-
tion he identifies is advertising.
Similarly, Hall (1996:623) notes that these contradictory tendencies between
the global and the local are the very dynamics of globalization. Hall claims that
the tension between the global and the local lies in the transformation of identi-
ties. That is, there is a tension "between particularistic forms of attachment or
belonging and more universalistic identification." In his discussion of cultural
identities, Hall (1996:619) proposes that "compression of distances and time-
spaces are among the most significant aspects of globalization affecting cultural
identities." He presents three consequences of globalization on cultural identi-
ties: national identities are being eroded; other local particularistic identities are
being strengthened; and national identities are declining but new identities of
hybridity are taking their place. In Hall's view, globalization exploits local differ-
entiation. This is not to say that the global replaces the local; rather, a "new artic-
ulation," in Hall's term, emerges between the global and the local. Another critical
point Hall argues is that "globalization is unevenly distributed 'between different
strata of the population' with regions" ( 1996:624). This point, in particular, bears
empirical significance for Korean TV commercials, because younger and older
generations are linguistically addressed differently in these commercials.
Arguments made by scholars in the area of modernity and globalization res-
onate with what is discussed by Giddens 1990. Since Giddens makes specific
reference to advertising, his theorization of modernity and globalization will serve
as a main point of reference for understanding these two concepts, which are
essential to the present study. Giddens writes that "modernity is inherently glob-
alizing" (1990:63). Globalization is claimed to entail an unprecedented degree
of interpenetration between the global and the local. His argument specific to
advertising is that it increasingly transcends particularities of one place and comes
to be usable irrespective of time and place. As a consequence, commonalities of
discourse practices rise above linguistic differences. Giddens (1990:64) views
globalization as the "intensification" of social relations linking "distinct locali-
ties in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring miles
away and vice versa."
Then, how is globalization manifest in social life? Waters 1995 claims that
economy, polity, and culture are three areas in which people become aware that
geographical constraints on social and cultural arrangements are decreasing. He
argues that material, political, and symbolic exchanges are quite relevant to glob-
alization. In particular, advertising is listed as one of the most prevalent exam-
ples of symbolic exchange.

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

Studies of globalization generally focus on one of the following facets: cul-

tural imperialism, the local, and "glocalization" (Machin & van Leeuwen 2003).
English mixing in advertising draws on this very concept of globalization, which
suggests that mixing allows success in many different markets and at the same
time requires an adaptation to a local market. In her study of English mixing in
French advertising, Martin 2002a asserts that English is a preferred language
among other foreign languages in French advertising when one wants to global-
ize the product's brand image.
Myers 1999 also discusses advertising in connection with globalization. He
argues that there is a competing strategy between creating advertising that will
be successful in many markets and adapting advertising to its local market. My-
ers stresses that without careful consideration of its potential impact in a given
cultural setting, an ad campaign might end up being unsuccessful. One example
Myers provides is an ad for shampoo that stresses its "naturalness." The way
"naturalness" is depicted varies across cultures from "a mountain meadow to a
boat on a pond" (1999:61). This example hints that a common concept such as
"naturalness" needs to be expressed in a subtly different way to appeal to view-
ers and consumers in a particular market.
Similarly, Bhatia 2001 addresses the issue of globalization in advertising and
stresses the notion of "glocalization," which is also extensively discussed by Rob-
ertson 1995. Bhatia focuses more on the innovative and creative aspects of mix-
ing, an emphasis which resonates with empirical findings in this study of Korean
advertising. The "positive approach" claims that "language mixing in advertis-
ing satisfies deeper innovative and creative needs of advertisement writers to cre-
ate desired effects of persuasion, naturalness, and other socio-psychological effects
in their language" (Bhatia 2001:197). The local adaptation of English is demon-
stratively in process in Korean TV commercials, as this study will show. The inno-
vative use of English in Korean ads is not merely an ad hoc attention-getter. It is
used to express Korean-English bilinguals' engagement with modernity. For these
bilinguals, English is not an alien language but part of their socially active verbal
repertoire. These bilinguals are not passive consumers of so-called canonical Stan-
dard English varieties, but active interlocutors and participants in the process of
creating localized uses of English. The use of English with the attendant innova-
tions allows a space for hybridity where the global uses of English are compro-
mised to create local effects (Bhatt 2003).
In his discussion of globality and locality, Bhatt (2003:17) argues that En-
glish allows "language consumers to glide effortlessly among local, national,
and international identities" through hybridity. He further asserts that this hy-
bridity "produces and reproduces identity positionings that link the global to the
local" (2003:17).
In fact, as Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999 have argued, modernity necessi-
tates less clear boundaries between global and local. They argue that ever-
increasing interaction across different linguistic and cultural boundaries leads to

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

prevalent hybrid discursive practices; bilingual advertising in South Korea turns

out to be a paradigmatic example of such practices.
Prevalent use of localized English across different genres in popular culture
such as music, TV shows, movies, magazines, and advertising is an indication of
the development of bilingualism in public domains in South Korea, although it
is still in the incipient stage. The combination of visible availability of English
use in public domains and improved accessibility of English in schools via newly
implemented English education policies enables Koreans to participate in the
sociolinguistic process of modernity, accessible through the acquisition of English.
The subsequent sections first present a brief history of English education in
Korea to situate the status and presence of English in contemporary South Ko-
rea. In the remainder of the article, how English-knowing and English-using
bilinguals in Korea flex their creative linguistic muscles in the construction of
modernity will be demonstrated through specific examples from TV commercials.

ENGLISH IN KOREA

An overview of English in educational as well as commercial institutions in South

Korea reveals three major characteristics of the powerful influence English exer-
cises in contemporary Korean society: (i) the pervasiveness of the ideology that
English is associated with modernity, (ii) its heightened visibility in public socio-
linguistic domains in Korea, and (iii) its improved accessibility - in terms of
recently implemented English language programs at the primary school level -
and the great potential that this represents for improved English proficiency among
young Koreans.
It has been claimed that formal English education has existed in Korea for
120 years, since the establishment of the first English school, Dongmoonhak, in
1883 (Kwon 1995). English education through the modern public school system
began with Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). However, English textbooks of-
fered grammatical accounts in Japanese during this period. The teachers spoke
either Korean or Japanese as their first language (Kwon 1995). By the end of
World War II, after the liberation of Korea from Japanese rule, English became a
required subject in all secondary schools (Choe 1996, cited in Shim 1999).
Excluding the years of English education during the Japanese colonial pe-
riod, Korea's autonomous and modern English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
education now has a history that spans more than 50 years. English education
was offered until 1997 from the seventh grade upward. In 1997, the Korean Min-
istry of Education and Human Resources Development implemented a new En-
glish education policy which reinforces the introduction of EFL at the beginning
of third grade.3 In order to expand foreign language education, English has been
taught as a part of the regular curriculum one to two hours a week, beginning
with third grade, since 1997. In 2002, a total of 856 native speakers of English
had been invited by the government from the United States, Canada, Australia,

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland and placed in elementary, mid-
dle, and high schools. In elementary schools, homeroom teachers are in princi-
ple made responsible for teaching English, but new methods such as exchanging
classes and team teaching are also available to suit the individual schools. For
the implementation of English education, native speakers have been assigned to
middle schools since 1995.
In another recent and ongoing effort to promote English education, the Ko-
rean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development has maintained
a policy to promote the establishment of close relationships between Korean
schools and those in other countries, especially in the United States. Approxi-
mately 147 Korean universities and colleges have established sister-school rela-
tions with 584 U.S. universities and colleges.
The English Program in Korea (EPIK)4 is a government program sponsored
by the same ministry. EPIK invites foreign university graduates to enrich their
lives and build a professional teaching career while sharing knowledge and cul-
ture with students and teachers throughout the Republic of Korea. In 1995, EPIK
was implemented with the participation of 150 members to improve the English-
speaking abilities of Korean students and teachers, to develop cultural exchanges,
and to reform teaching methodologies in English. In 2002, the EPIK commis-
sion recruited approximately 120 new native-speaking English teachers. Anyone
can apply for EPIK who has completed at least six years of secondary education
and four years of college leading to a bachelor's degree, and who is from one of
six major English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand,
the United Kingdom, and the United States). Those selected for the program
generally teach English in public secondary schools, train Korean English teach-
ers, or assist provincial offices of education.
Shim observes, "In South Korea, English has become not only the most im-
portant foreign language, but also an essential tool for education, power, and
success" (1994: 225) and further notes that "the ability to speak it well is often
associated with higher and therefore desired social status" (1994:238). She esti-
mates that at least a half of the younger generation (aged 15-40) are Korean-
English bilinguals, since "all Korean children are exposed to at least three years
of formal English education during the mandatory education period, and since
more than 60 percent of middle school graduates also finish high school educa-
tion" (1994:237). Whether Shim's observation that 50% of the younger genera-
tion are bilingual has empirical bearing on their daily English use is debatable
and is dependent on how one defines "bilingual." Nonetheless, differences in
acquisitional patterns and pedagogical concerns regarding English in South Ko-
rea are not irrelevant to generational issues.
This keen and robust interest in English is evident not only in pedagogical
institutions but also in private sectors and government agencies.5 More than 700
major Korean companies, including conglomerates6 such as Samsung, Hyundai,
LG, and Daewoo, require English on their new-hire recruiting exams. After these

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

employees are hired, they need to attend in-house foreign language programs
run by either a human resource department or a training center to improve their
conversational skills and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communica-
tion) scores. If employees do not satisfy a minimum score requirement on their
English test, they are excluded from company-wide overseas training and pro-
motion (e.g., for assistant manager and manager positions).
For instance, LG gives an additional monthly bonus of $50 to employees who
score 730 or higher on the TOEIC. Ssangyoung excludes employees who scored
lower than 600 on the TOEIC from the annual company-wide promotion. Since
there is a two-year time limit for the official TOEIC scores to be considered
valid, employees are required to retake the test once every two years. However,
employees who score 850 or higher on the TOEIC are exempt from this require-
ment. Thus, in order for employees to be free from the hassle of taking the test
on a regular basis, this kind of policy gives them extra motivation to score as
high as they can.
According to the Samsung public relations department, "A good score on the
TOEIC guarantees additional bonus points for their job performance. The com-
pany does not have to force the employees. They themselves try to score high."
However incipient and unstable societal bilingualism is in Korea, no one can
deny that the presence of English in the areas of education and employment is
robust.

METHODOLOGY

This study is based on qualitative data taken from a total of four hours of video-
taped Korean TV commercials. The corpus includes 720 advertising spots. These
commercials were broadcast on the major Korean television stations - Korea
Broadcasting System (KBS), Munwha Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), and
Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) - during prime time on weekends in August
through October 2002.
The rationale for choosing weekend prime time for collecting data was to
ensure the maximum number of viewers. A TV rating survey conducted by TNS
Media7 indicates that the commercials analyzed for this study were aired for TV
shows that ranked in the top twenty on the rating list. Ratings for these shows
ranged from 18.7% to 33.2%. These rating statistics suggest that these advertise-
ments were presented when a large number of TV viewers were tuned in.
This study investigates how English mixing is used and what it is used for in
Korean TV commercials. Previous studies of TV commercials have highlighted
the multimodal nature of TV commercials and have stressed the importance of
incorporating not only linguistic but also visual and auditory means of commu-
nication in them (e.g., Cook 1992, Geis 1982, Piller 2000). Following their ar-
gument, analyses presented in this article include not only linguistic features but
also visual and sound effects, such as characters and music featured in each com-

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

mercial. Therefore, whenever paralinguistic description is necessary for clear

understanding of a given commercial, a detailed illustration of audio-visual ef-
fects will be provided.
Two major categories, Korean-only (KO) and English mixed (EM), will be
contrasted. KO includes commercials aired in exclusively Korean as well as Sino-
Korean (Hanca, or Chinese-character-based Korean). There was such a paucity
of TV commercials with mixed second languages other than English that they
were not included in the data. English-only commercials constitute only a frac-
tion of the corpus, and therefore they are not discussed in this article. The analy-
sis centers on EM, which constitutes the majority of the data, and its comparison
with KO. This dichotomous treatment of KO and EM is critical in establishing
evidence for my major argument that EM commercials are designed to engage
viewers and consumers in the process of constructing identities of modernity,
whereas KO commercials are not.
The corpus of 720 advertising spots was first classified according to which
language code was used, KO or EM. Then each category was investigated fur-
ther regarding what product was featured. Since this study essentially draws on
comparative aspects of KO and EM commercials, only the categories of prod-
ucts that were advertised in both KO and EM, found in a total of 267 advertising
spots, were subject to further investigation in terms of their endorsed messages
and featured characters.
Three subcategories common to KO and EM emerged from the corpus. I
call these TECHNOLOGY, GENDER ROLES, and TASTE8 AS A CULTURAL FORM.
Technology includes any industrial mechanical or electronic products, such as
cars, computers, or cellular phones. Gender roles include commercials that con-
tain statements or messages regarding gender differences and representations
of males or females by using gender-related lexical items such as woman or
man. Taste includes beverage commercials such as those for coffee and alco-
holic drinks. Some commercials might fall into more than one category. For
example, a gas oven commercial with female spokespersons can be classified
in both technology and gender roles simultaneously. When this occurred, the
decision was made based on the main advertising copy or voice-over. That is,
if the main copy of a commercial for gas ovens made specific reference to
female roles, it was classified as gender roles rather than technology. This occa-
sionally arguable classification does not pose a threat to the main theoretical
claim that knowledge and use of English in South Korea is a defining linguistic
expression of modernity, since the association of English mixing with modern
identity construction is maintained across all three domains of advertising
discussed.
Before delving into an individual discussion of the three domains (technol-
ogy, gender roles, and taste as a culture form) of advertising discourse, I ana-
lyzed contrasting characteristics between KO and EM commercials, first in terms
of the identities featured in each category. This overview of dissimilar identities

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serves as critical supporting evidence for a connection between language codes

and their promoted identities.
After establishing the general dissimilarities between KO and EM commer-
cials, they were further compared according to the products advertised. To
achieve a more or less fair comparison between KO and EM, only the ones that
advertised the same product were contrasted. In the following discussion KO
commercials will be introduced first, immediately followed by comparable EM
commercials. Each sample is given first in the original orthographic represen-
tation (e.g., Hangeul 'Korean' and/or Hanca 'Sino-Korean'), followed by its
roman transliteration and English translation. English mixing - regardless of
whether it is presented in the Korean orthography (e.g., Ii L E; C 'engi-
neered jean') or in roman script - is in boldface. All relevant observations
about audiovisual effects are included in the discussion of each example.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the literature review section, I proposed integrating two approaches in the

study of advertising discourse. The proposed merging of identity construction
and globalization approaches will yield a sociolinguistically significant general-
ization about English-mixing advertisements in South Korea in which linguistic
modernity is expressed via acquisition and use of English. In this section, I
will demonstrate how modernity is indexed via English use in the following
domains: (i) modernity and technology, (ii) modernity and gender, and (iii) mo-
dernity and taste as a cultural form. In each section, I will show how modernity
is crucially interlinked with the use of English. There are certainly cultural
forms to express modernity other than the use of English (e.g., clothing, hair-
style). However, what I argue in this article is that Korean TV commercials
employ the English-mixing strategy as a main linguistic cultural form to in-
dex modernity. This type of discoursal hybridity is one key aspect of globali-
zation (Bhatt 2003, Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999). My theoretical claim is
that the use of English - however proportionately insignificant it might be in a
given advertisement - is indexed to modernity. A specific prediction of the claim
is that any conspicuous absence of English use must be unassociated with
modernity.
Following an adapted version of Piller's (2001) typology, a total of 720 TV
advertising spots were analyzed. The proportion of Korean-only (KO) versus
English-mixing (EM) in the corpus is summarized in Table 1.
A total of 603 EM commercials were further classified into the categories
shown in Table 2. The largest segment in the EM corpus is realized in the
linguistically mixed mode - that is, a combination of written and spoken modes.
The ads in this category are presented both as a voice-over - either uttered by
a main spokesperson or by a narrator - accompanied by the orthographic pre-
sentation of English mixing. A very small number of advertising spots rely

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TABLE 1. Proportion of KO and EM in a corpus

of 720 Korean TV commercials.

720 TV advertising spots

Korean only (KO) English mixed (EM)

1 17 ads 603 ads

16.25% 83.75%

TABLE 2. Different types of mixing in a corpus of 603 ads in EM TV commercials.

Written mode only

(Main copy in
Non-linguistic Roman script or Linguistically
only (e.g., music Brand name Spoken mode Korean orthographic mixed mode
and/or Western and/or product only (Voice-over presentation of (Both written
characters) name only or main copy) English) and spoken)

12 ads 121 ads 13 ads 29ads 428 ads

1.99% 20.06% 2.15% 4.8% 70.97%

exclusively on nonlinguistic tokens such as Western pop music and/or Western

characters.
Table 3 presents the top five products advertised in the KO category, in de-
scending order. Food is an item mostly advertised in Korean only. Some prod-
ucts are spicy instant noodles, rice, and seasonings essential for Korean cuisine,
such as soybean paste, hot pepper paste, and soy sauce. KO commercials for
financial institutions frequently use lexical items such as wuli nala 'our nation',
Tayhanminkwuk 'Republic of Korea', or wuli kacok 'our family'. It is notable
that the first person singular possessive nay is absent from the data. Instead, the
first person plural possessive wuli represents a collective entity, whether it refers
to a nation or a family.
The top five products advertised in the EM category demonstrate an order
different from that of those in KO. In order to establish a connection between
English mixing and its role in fostering and reinforcing modernity in TV com-
mercials, it is necessary to examine how EM commercials differ from KO com-
mercials. In particular, the following questions are worth investigating: (i) What
kinds of consumers do these commercials target? (ii) What kinds of identities
associated with characters or spokespersons are featured? And (iii), what kinds
of messages do they endorse or convey?

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TABLE 3. Top 5 products advertised in KO commercials.

Number
Product type of ads Percentage Representative examples

Food 47 40.17% Spicy instant noodles, rice, and oriental seasoning

Medicine 22 18.80% Medicine for hangovers, stamina, and fatigue that
often contain oriental herbs as main ingredients
Finance 20 17.09% Financial institutions that heavily rely on wuli ('we'
in Korean) or Tayvhanminkwuk ('The Republic of
Korea' in Korean)
Cellular phone 12 10.25% Cell phones offering inexpensive rates
Non-profit 5 4.27% Anti-excessive consumer culture campaign
Pro-environment or environment friendly campaign

TABLE 4. Top five products advertised in EM commercials.

Number
Product type of ads Percentage Representative examples

Cellular phone 143 23.71% Cell phones featuring advanced functions (e.g.,
camera phone, coloring [assigning different
dial tones for major frequent callers], limitless
text-messaging)
Beauty products 112 18.57% Cosmetics, hair products, body care products,
feminine hygiene products
Cars 89 14.75% Mid-compact size sedans, sports cars, SUV
Apparel 78 12.93% Jeans, T-shirts
Drinks 65 10.77% Soda, beer, coffee

First, I will discuss general properties of KO commercials, then EM ones.

General properties are the identities of characters presented and products fea-
tured. Then I will discuss contrasting examples from each category, KO and
EM, a dichotomous treatment of typology that was justified earlier in the dis-
cussion of how to overcome some of the limitations of Piller 2001. Contrasting
examples from the two categories advertise the same type of product (e.g.,
cellular phones), and yet their associated identities and endorsed messages
are drastically different. I argue that the main contributing factor to this con-
trast has to do with which language code these commercials utilize. In other
words, whether a commercial is in KO or EM predicts what kind of consumers
it caters to and what kinds of identities are indexed with these consumers.

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Language and identity in KO commercials9

The use of linguistic features associated with a group to identify with that group
(termed "referee design" by Bell 1999) is relevant to English use in Korean TV
commercials. The notion of "audience design" discussed by Bell (1984, 1991,
1992, 1997) also provides a theoretical underpinning for the argument that "lin-
guistic features associated with a group can be used to express identification
with that group" (Bell 1997:248).
In particular, Bell's differentiated typology'? of audience is critical for us to
understand at whom a given commercial is targeted. There are audience mem-
bers, who are known, ratified, and addressed, called "addressees"; those present,
known and ratified within the group but not directly addressed, called "audi-
tors"; those who are not ratified as part of the group, called "overhearers"; and
last, those whose presence is not even known to the speaker, called "eavesdrop-
pers." As far as TV commercials are concerned, ADDRESSEES and AUDITORS can
be viewed as target consumers who are identified with spokespersons and char-
acters featured in advertisements. The notion of OVERHEARERS is equivalent to
viewers who are not directly targeted consumers because they are not acknowl-
edged as "part of the group" by advertising agencies. What this entails is that
addressees and auditors for KO commercials differ from those for EM commer-
cials. Following Bell's argument, I classify target audiences - addressees and
auditors - according to the characters featured and language code used in the
commercials.
KO commercials target the following consumers/TV viewers: (i) elderly cit-
izens, (ii) financially stable middle-aged males, and (iii) Korea as a nation. This
is evident from the spokespersons or characters featured in these KO commer-
cials, who include old grandmothers, middle-aged salarymen," well-established
older businessmen, and a group of Koreans depicted with a distinct Korean
national identity (e.g., with the national flag). Whenever Korea, the nation, is men-
tioned as a whole, especially in nonprofit, public announcement-type advertise-
ments (e.g., fighting unemployment), only Korean is used.
Age appears to be a critical variable in language use patterns in TV adver-
tisements. When commercials cater to older generations, Korean and/or Sino-
Korean'2 is used, whereas when commercials are geared toward younger
generations, English is generally mixed with Korean. For instance, in an ad
where a middle-aged, upper-middle-class businessman is featured, Sino-Korean
is used. On the other hand, when a young businessman with more or less the
same socioeconomic status is featured, English mixing is used. There seems to
be a connection between Sino-Korean and Kisengseytay'3 versus English and
Sinseytay."4 Sino-Korean is not expected to be used in commercials for the new
generation. English is not expected to be used in commercials for the older
generation. If this alliance between language and generation is violated in a
given commercial, this "marked" choice invites implicature. For instance, English

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mixing could be exploited as a linguistic representation of youthfulness and

techno-savvyness "unusual" for the older generation. Conversely, Sino-Korean
might be used without English to indicate traditional values that need to be
restored in the younger generations.
Certain categories of products are advertised in Korean-only commercials.
First, there is Korean food (e.g., rice, Korean plum drink, Korean noodles,
Korean meat) or home appliances for preparing Korean food (e.g., a specialized
refrigerator for kimchi I). TV commercials for refrigerators specifically de-
signed for storing kimchi present interesting linguistic evidence of the associa-
tion between English and modernity. Although kimchi is truly unique to Korea,
if a spokesperson is a middle-aged male, only Korean is used. However, if the
character featured is an attractive young housewife with a professional career,
English mixing is used.
Sponsors whose company names are in Korean or/and Sino-Korean tend to
advertise their products only in Korean. Examples include )A t (Nonghyep,
Farmers Association), A E W (Taywung Ceyak, Big Bear Pharmaceutical,
X ? 4t (Mokwuchon, Cow Breeding Village), + C (Tongyanghwacay, Ori-
ental Fire Insurance), I IT- (Phwulmwuwen, Green Grass Pasture), 1"j =?I]
(Pingguley, Korean mimetic word for 'grin'), and TR X (Pwuchaypyo, Asian
Paper Fan).

Language and identity in EM commercials

In this section, I discuss commercials in EM in contrast with those in KO in

terms of featured identities and endorsed messages. I argue that modernity is
associated with these identities, and English is a linguistic mechanism that al-
lows this modernity to be expressed. EM TV commercials included in the corpus
analysis represent the following classes of people: rebellious teenagers, college
students with an unconventional mindset, young, stylish career women, Misi-
cok 6, self-reliant elementary school children, fun-loving, young male office
workers, and looks-conscious young "metrosexuals." 17
I argue that these representations demonstrate what modernity is intended to
mean for Korean TV viewers/consumers. First, it means having the younger
generations' work ethic, "work hard and play hard," which differs from the older
generations' "work only, no play." EM TV commercials feature young salary-
men in button-down shirts and khakis talking about weekend leisure activities.
This sharply contrasts with older salarymen in business suits with leather brief-
cases, who look serious and tired from overwork. In an EM commercial about a
credit card, young office employees discuss their fun weekend activities. Their
idea of shopping is to buy bikinis for their girlfriends. Shopping is an alien con-
cept for the older-generation males who are featured predominantly in KO com-
mercials. Buying a bikini for a spouse would be inconceivable. The young office
employees' idea of playing sports is to surf or to play tennis. When the voice-

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TABLE 5. Comparative summary of KO vs. EM associated identity.

KO EM

Elderly citizens Rebellious teenagers and college students

Middle-aged businessmen Young male office workers
"Conventionally masculine" males Metrosexuals
Middle aged housewives (Acwumma) Young stylish married women (Misicok)
Full-time homemakers Career oriented single women
Korea as a nation in non-profit ads Korea as a nation in intemational market-
targeted ads

over says "sports," thinking bubbles appear over their heads, and they daydream
about surfing while vacationing on a tropical island.
Second, modernity means that people care about product appearance or pack-
aging as much as they care about functions. For instance, the main copy and
voice-over for a cell phone named Cyon in an EM commercial says "Looks good"
rather than "Works well." Third, anything high-tech, fast, and efficient has to do
with modernity. Fourth, a "fusion" of global and local - a "hybridity" of some
sort - is viewed as "hip," and this hipness is often an indication of modernity
and connected with young people. Fifth, being rebellious, edgy, and unique are
typical characteristics of modern youthfulness featured in EM commercials. Sixth,
powerful and successful young career women represent a subpopulation of mod-
ern Koreans. Table 5 presents a comparative summary of identity elements asso-
ciated with KO and EM commercials.
In the following subsections, the linguistic construction of modernity in
Korean TV commercials, in particular in the domains of technology, gender
roles, and taste as a cultural form - will be empirically discussed in terms of
how the interface between identity constructions and modernity is linguisti-
cally deployed.

Modernity and technology

In the domain of technology, commercials about cellular phones, cars, comput-

ers, and home appliance electronics are included. Interestingly, contrasts be-
tween conservative and progressive, traditional and modern, and old and young
are clearly represented. Each of these dichotomies is correlated with the pres-
ence or absence of English use. A case in point is presented in example (1), a
KO commercial:

(1) TiQ~~ +t R _1._ a 1-i ; +A * -t

Pwumonimul wihan yokum. Pwumonim cenyong hyutayphon Hyo.
'A special rate for your parents. Cellular phone specially designed for your parents Hyo.'

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This commercial advertises a cellular phone specially designed for

elderly people. The name of the phone is the Sino-Korean word 4E (Hyo) 'filia
piety', which is orthographically presented in Hanca (Chinese characters). Hyo
is a concept from Confucianism which stresses the importance of sons' and daugh
ters' lifelong devotion and reverence to their parents. The main character fea-
tured in this commercial is an old lady in a rural area. She is saying goodbye to
her children who reside in the city. The voice-over is: "She says she doesn't need
a cell phone, but . . ." The ad offers a cheaper rate for parents who have a rather
tight, fixed income and promises that the functions are not too complicated fo
senior citizens to handle. As the name of the product indicates, buying this cell
phone for one's aging parents is part of one's duty or obligation toward them.
In contrast, the same company advertises a cellular phone aimed at teenagers,
as in EM example (2). Orthographically, the main copy is exclusively in English.

(2) Let's KT. Bigi KTF

KT is a company name, an acronym for Korea Telecommunications. In this

commercial, the novel use of the noun KTas a verb is similar to the tag line of a
Yahoo TV commercial in America: "Do you Yahoo?" In addition, notice the prod-
uct name Bigi, which is the root form of the Korean verb til 71 rj (bigita) 'to end
in a tie' or 'to come out even.' Even the Korean root of the verb is chopped off
and written in roman script, not in Korean. Technically speaking, roman script i
not associated exclusively with English but with the West. However, ortho-
graphic representations in roman are frequently called yenge, which refers to the
English language.
This is a cell phone promotion that allows a couple or two friends to share
their unused number of text messages. Two teenagers in school uniforms are
featured. One has many white balls, intended to symbolize text messages, and
the other has fewer white balls. The one with more balls digs out white balls with
a shovel and dumps them into the other's empty plastic container. The idea is
that two consumers have their accounts connected, and the one who sends more
text messages than he or she is allowed does not have to pay extra if his or her
partner has some unused text messages left. Teenagers and other young consum-
ers use the text-message function more than the older generations do. One has to
be familiar with how to send text messages and be quick with the fingertips on
the keyboard. These skills are not easy to acquire for elderly citizens like those
featured in example (1).
Examples (1) and (2) show that Sino-Korean is associated with older people
who are not technologically sophisticated enough to deal with text messaging,
whereas English is associated with younger people who are quick and up-to-date
with the most current technology.
The three-way correlation among English, modernity, and youth is best exem-
plified in another commercial for a cellular phone, shown in (3). A young woman

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in a tank top and baggy jeans screams into a microphone like a punk-rock pop
star:

(3) fI &L I ' L TTL ol 14. Made in twenty TTL

Ccaynghako hayttulnal tolaontanta TTLita Made in twenty TTL
'There will be a day when the sun rises brightly (Things will get better). It is TTL. Made
in twenty.'

The name of the cell phone is TTL. The main copy reads Made in twenty and
the voice-over is also in English, read by the spokesperson herself. This commer-
cial features a special cell phone promotional deal for which only consumers 20
years old or younger are eligible. Thus, the word twenty in made in twenty indi-
cates the age limit for this deal. English is once again associated with youthful-
ness. This youthfulness often manifests itself in being rebellious, refusing to act
the same as anyone else, and striving to be unique.
The younger generations are also as concerned with what cell phones look
like as with their functions and quality. The TV commercial in (4) for a camera
cellular phone, using more advanced visual technology, uses only English. In
this commercial, a beautiful young woman lying on the grass on her back an-
swers her phone, and her boyfriend appears on its screen:

(4) Looks good Cyon

This phone, whose brand name is Cyon, has an advanced function which allows
users to see each other while they are talking. The young woman in the commer-
cial extends her beautiful long legs in the air to show them to her boyfriend and
blows a kiss to him. Her nice-looking legs go well with the copy, which says that
the phone itself looks good. It displays a young woman who is not self-conscious
about revealing her best feature and is not afraid of making a public display of
affection toward her boyfriend, which is incompatible with older generations'
values regarding romance and courting. This is compatible, however, with the
image of young, modern females who are honest about their feelings with their
partners. This modern representation uses English as its medium.
Similarly, commercial (5) uses English in the copy. The name of the cell phone
is in English, and the characters featured are young college students:

(5) Digital exciting AnyCall

The scene is a party, and a number of female students are paying attention to
one male student. He thinks that he is checking these women out by secretly
taking pictures with his cell phone. However, it turns out that he is the one who
is being carefully observed and photographed by all the women at the party. The
copy certainly transmits the "exciting" and "always ready" party spirit of most
young people. This commercial does not portray young females as passive ob-
jects of the male gaze. Rather, they are depicted as aggressive initiators in the
"checking out" scene. These images project a reversal of traditional female and
male roles in exploring romantic interests in Korea.

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Although I have been arguing that linguistic modernity is expressed through

the use of English and that commercials targeting older generations are shown
to use Korean only and/or Sino-Korean, there are some interesting counterex-
amples. For instance, example (6) features a middle-aged male in a cell phone
commercial in EM. What is interesting about this ad is that the middle-aged
man is portrayed as more up-to-date with recent cell phone technology than a
young female standing behind him in a long queue during the morning rush
hour at a subway station. Thus, in this commercial, the older generation's
"unusual" sophistication with technology is linguistically depicted via English
mixing:

(6) '- Kmerce t I}. I q e mobile commerce. KMerce.

Nan Kmercelo thanta. Tayhanminkwuk mobile commerce. KMerce. Hyutayphon ha-

nalo tahasipsiyo.
'I ride with K merce. Korean mobile commerce. K Merce. Do everything with (your) cell
phone.'

The idea is that this cell phone, named KMerce, provides total mobile com-
merce service: It replaces a subway pass, bus pass, train ticket, and so forth.
Instead of purchasing a subway pass on a daily or monthly basis, KMerce cell
phone users can scan their phone over the turnstile at the subway station. It is
automatically connected with the commuter's bank account, which means that
consumers do not have to be concerned with whether their bill payment is over-
due every month. The young female subway commuter who witnesses what this
middle-aged man does is portrayed as completely in awe of him. This commer-
cial demonstrates that young people do not associate older generations with new
high-tech products. What is significant about this commercial is the use of En-
glish in engaging the older generation with unexpected modernity. The conve-
nient, quick, hassle-free total service deal with this cell phone is expressed in
English.
The alliance between English mixing and younger generations is also present
in car commercials. In those aimed at younger people, there is no trace of Sino-
Korean orthographic representation. Instead, English mixing is used to reinforce
a set of characteristics associated with modernity - powerful, edgy, and young.
Proper nouns for the names of cars in examples (7)-(9), such as Avante, Kalos,
and Musso, are written in roman script. Although they could be argued to be
European language-based rather than exclusively English-based names, South
Koreans perceive roman orthographic representations as English.'9 Example (7)
is a case in point:

(7) 7. J. rm149 q &qoAE1 Avante XD

Kangcauy design new edgy style Avante XD
'A new edgy style design for the powerful. Avante XD'

This commercial advertises a compact car which is affordably priced for young
consumers. The spokesperson is a female violinist in her twenties, pictured on a

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

foreign college campus. The young violinist presumably studies music abroad
and is supposed to represent an independent, young, successful female artist.
For this consumer to further her education, English is essential. She is seen as
talented and recognized as a powerful person. This commercial also promotes a
positive, strong young female role model. The use of English strengthens its
association with modernity, which is equated with strong, adventurous, and young
qualities.
The foregoing car commercial implies a connection between language code
and the type of car or identity associated with potential buyers. Example (8)
below makes this connection explicit by making specific reference to the rela-
tion between cars and generations. It is about the "generation shift" in the car
industry. English mixing is used to represent this generation shift:

(8) Hi! Kalos : j -] Al M111 Kalos 1 dA

Hi! Kalos sohyengchauy seytaykyochey. Kalos thansayng
'Hi! Kalos. Shift in generations for compact and economy cars. The Birth of Kalos'

This commercial shows a young female in the driver's seat. She picks up a
male in an astronaut uniform from the sidewalk and drives away. As the copy
says, this is a compact economy car, reasonably priced for young owners. To
convey the welcoming spirit for the birth or launching of this new car, the En-
glish greeting Hi! is used. This is an example of English being portrayed as the
language of casual youth culture. Hi! is suitable for expressing an informal yet
enthusiastic welcome, as the exclamation mark indicates.
In the next example, the concept of "generation" once again becomes rele-
vant in the choice of language code. The sports utility vehicle (SUV) commer-
cial in (9) specifically targets 'the next generation'. As the copy demonstrates,
Chaseytay, which literally refers to the 'next generation', refuses to be ordinary:

(9) ig1 t~ :3& L+.! --.x o I} 0 4 ]r. Ai4l q igi --q N A zFsMusso pick-up sports
Phyengpemhan kesun nauy kesi anita. Chaseytay leisure sports Musso pick-up sports
'Something ordinary is not mine (my style or me). Musso pick-up sports for the next
generation leisure sports.'

This SUV is equipped to handle outdoor leisure activities in rugged terrain.

The next generation is portrayed as active, and it needs an active sports utility
vehicle. This generation refuses to settle for a "boring" sedan.

Modernity and gender roles

Another domain at the interface between identity construction and modernity in

advertising discourse is closely connected with how gender roles and images are
redefined and reinterpreted. In particular, the way that contemporary female iden-
tities are featured in EM commercials presents supporting evidence for the theo-
retical claim that English use is linked to modernity. I will now contrast how
female identities are presented in KO commercials with those in EM. Exam-
ple (10) is in Korean and Sino-Korean, with no trace of English:

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(10) dL T3 U+ A 2c E1 Bt t -f . I e v T 7 7 L 4
Kochwupota maywunkey hankwukyeca. Swunchang kochwucang hwakku
'Korean women are hotter than hot peppers. Swunchang hot pepper paste is extra spicy.'

In this commercial, a Korean mother runs a relay in her son's school sports
event. Children run first in this event, and then they give their batons to their
mothers, who finish the race. This particular mother's son falls down, but she
picks him up and runs fast with determination to win the race. Biting her lips and
staring firmly at the finish line indicate her resilience.
One of the criteria for good-quality hot pepper paste is spiciness; in other
words, the hotter the better. Kochwucang is unique to Korean food, as quintes-
sentially Korean as kimchi. To express "Koreanness," Korean is used. The iden-
tity associated with this Korean mother in (10) is not that of a career woman in
sophisticated business attire. Rather, she can easily be identified as Acwumma,20
which refers to "middle-aged married women with kids - they are normally dead
busy looking and sort of fierce with permed hair and shouty voices" (source:
Lost Seoulforforeigners in Seoul: [Link] /[Link]). Most women
who are highly educated and sophisticated with professional careers do not wish
to be referred to as Acwumma. In particular, if someone refers to a single woman
as Acwumma, this is considered a violation of social etiquette regarding address
terms and is perceived as rude and offensive by the addressee. The word con-
jures up an image of a middle-aged full-time homemaker - not an image that is
associated with modern career-oriented young women.
It has been argued that female images in advertisements create a fantasy world
in which women's power and independence are realized through sexuality and
beauty (Machin & Thornborrow 2003, Machin & van Leeuwen 2003). The EM
commercials in my study seem to project these images to young female consum-
ers. Those in (11 )-(17) portray women differently from the traditional one fea-
tured in KO ads. In (I 1), the role of women is seen as transitioning from traditional
domesticity into career-oriented modernity.

( 1) Rinnai oQ xt -] M i Q t 4. Revolution for the generations to come.

Rinnai yecalul wihan hwalyehan pyensin. Revolution for the generations to come
'Rinnai, a brilliant transformation for women. Revolution for the generations to come'

The women in this commercial are all dressed in black with impeccable
makeup. The whole scene is similar to a runway fashion show. They pose like
models, and each wears a hairpiece or hat ornamented with some objects asso-
ciated with the kitchen, such as gas flames, a spatula, or a knife. What the
commercial attempts to convey is the identity of a sophisticated career woman
and wife, still looking great even after spending time cooking meals for her
family, thanks to this revolutionary gas oven. This ad purports to revolutionize
women's work in the kitchen, reducing their household chores. Whether this
revolution can ultimately result in setting women free from domestic obliga-
tions altogether is highly debatable. Nonetheless, this commercial reflects the

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urgency of meeting the needs of modern career-oriented female consumers,

who are sharply contrasted with traditional full-time homemakers. English mix-
ing is used as a linguistic strategy to present the notion of a modem Korean
woman demanding lifestyle changes through the use of modem technology.
The conclusion that EM ads are linked with modern Korean women's identities
finds further support from another ad for Vidal Sassoon shampoo:

(12) Amwuil
?tTO?V 1kukeschelem
epsten - ] J.9-L_ol v-o1-Q4.
kamccokathi Exciting
tolaonta. [Link]
Exciting hair. Vidal Sassoon.
Sassoon
'It (your hair) comes back as if nothing happened. Exciting hair. Vidal Sassoon.'

In this ad, an attractive young Korean woman in a party outfit walks toward
her girlfriend, waving at her on the street. There is an outdoor basketball court
near her in which foreign guys are playing basketball. One of them drops the ball
by accident, and it stops in front of this beautiful young woman. She does not
hesitate and instantly joins the game and shoots a clean three-pointer. The men
cheer for her, and she walks away confidently. The copy reads, Exciting hair,
Vidal Sassoon. This copy stresses how healthy one's hair looks and how easy it
is to keep tidy with Vidal Sassoon shampoo. The ad portrays a confident woman
who is strong enough to handle physical competition with Western men without
sacrificing her femininity or style. The male basketball players drop their jaws
and are speechless. The woman smiles back at them confidently and walks away,
which indicates that it is no big deal for her - she has done it before.
Other emerging aspects of the modern Korean woman appear to be that she is
aggressive and unreserved, as seen in an ad for Nivea deodorant (13). Again, this
ad portraying a modem female is linked with the use of English:

(13) Nivea Deodorant. Mind of change. 1 e ' 4{iJ-

Nivea Deodorant. Mind of change. Pposong pposonghan casinkam
'Nivea Deodorant. Mind of change. Confidence with dry freshness'

In this commercial, a young male is reading the newspaper in which the en-
larged message Mind of Change appears. The expression mind of change con-
trasts with Standard English change of mind not only in form but also in meaning.
The former indicates a 'mind that is change-oriented and yearns for change',
whereas the latter means to 'alter what you have in your mind.' The door opens
and a young woman rushes in, but she looks at him and walks out instantly be-
cause she becomes self-conscious about her sweat. Then she uses Nivea deodor-
ant and comes back confidently. Her gaze exudes her strong sexual attraction to
him. She smiles and comes up to him. The man appears flattered by her interest,
but at the same time surprised by her aggressiveness. The characteristics of young
Korean women featured in this EM commercial are once again those of a woman
who takes initiative in pursuing her love interest, knows what she wants, sets her
heart on it, and gets it with great confidence.
Example (14) confirms my hypothesis that the use of English in Korean com-
mercials is indexed with modern gender roles for women - intelligent, success-

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

ful, outgoing and single. It illustrates a modern single woman's lifestyle via
English mixing:

(14) Extra Intelligentq1~l o A * oirl v Xi

Extra Intelligent. Aphsen saynghwaleyuy chotay Xi
'Extra Intelligent. An invitation to an advanced lifestyle. Xi'

In this apartment ad, a single woman in a casual outfit drinks coffee while
listening to music quietly in her beautiful apartment. Later she is seen in a
black formal dress and dines alone, drinking red wine at the dinner table in
the same apartment. Her identity is that of a young successful woman who
enjoys her single life. Essentially, the message is that she does not have to
wait until she gets married to own a beautiful apartment like the one featured
in this commercial. The apartment building, named Xi, enables a single woman
to lead an intelligent, forerunner lifestyle. The ad suggests that this is a smart
and extra intelligent choice for single women. This extra intelligent choice is
represented with English mixing, not by the exclusive use of Korean or
Sino-Korean.
The next example comes from a camera commercial. The use of English is
once again indexed with the modern characteristics of a Korean woman - in
control and assertive. A young female takes pictures with an Olympus camera.
She zooms in on one particular male she finds attractive. Once she pushes the
button on the camera, he gets lifted up in the air and cannot freely control his
body movements. SHE is in control, and HE is controlled. The copy reads:

(15) Eye want. Olympus

The identity of the young female in this commercial is not that of the domi-
nated; rather, it is that of a dominating woman portrayed as reversing traditional
gender roles. Another feature noticeable in this copy is word play: neither An eye
wants nor Eyes want as would be expected in Standard English. The voice-over
Eye want is an instance of word play attempting to yield another reading of the
copy, based on the homophonic I want. This intensifies the main message that
she knows what she wants and she is in control, which reinforces a modern iden-
tity for young Korean women. This type of word play is certainly constructed
for and will be appreciated more by Korean-English bilinguals than by English
monolinguals. English monolinguals might not be able to ignore what they per-
ceive as grammatical mistakes regarding the use of articles and morphemes and
thus might not value the pun I/Eye want.
Male roles in the EM commercials in this study do not rely on conventional
notions of masculinity. Predominantly young, urban, single males are featured
in the EM commercials, and they are often characterized as "metrosexual"; im-
ages of so-called alpha males are absent from these EM commercials. These
metrosexuals readily participate in a discourse that is traditionally classified as

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

within the female domain of interest, such as skin care and fashion. The follow-
ing ad is a case in point:

(16) Lotion ] color lotion. 14Xj 1 El F]- color lotion.

Lotion taysin color lotion namcauy thilul kamchwunun color lotion
'Colored lotion in place of plain lotion. Colored lotion that hides a touch of a man in
your complexion.'

In the commercial about liquid foundation for men above, two men pass by
each other in the locker room in slow motion. The voice-over in this ad is sup-
posed to be an overt verbalization of one male's "voice in the head" admiring the
other male's smooth, beautiful skin. It states, "I wonder what he uses to make his
skin look that good." The idea of facial beauty products for males in Korea has
been so far limited to moisturizers and skin toners. No company in Korea - nor
perhaps in other countries, for that matter - has marketed liquid foundation for
males until now. Unlike moisturizers and skin toners, liquid foundation can be
categorized as "true" makeup. This ad demonstrates that typically female-oriented
consumer culture, such as putting on makeup, is no longer identified as exclu-
sively female. It is highly unlikely that the current beauty-product market will
start selling lipstick to male consumers, but at least liquid foundation has be-
come acceptable to young metrosexual consumers in contemporary South Korea.

Modernity and taste as a culturalform

The third domain in which KO and EM commercials contrast in terms of express-

ing modernity or the lack of it is that of taste in foods and beverages. I will show
evidence that EM represents modern taste, whereas KO represents traditional
taste.
Example (17) contains only Korean and Sino-Korean. No English mixing is
utilized. This ad is about a cold green tea drink:

(17) T. 0 ?! 4 - -A 7 V+ W LI
Cha. Cheng phwung nong mwu cin tho. Etten chasiphul ssununyaka cwungyohapnita.
Chawulin.
'Tea. Clear wind, thick fog, and good soil. What kind of tea leaves you use is important.
Chawulin.'

An Asian woman with a straw hat is standing in the middle of a wide field in
which tea leaves are grown. The copy stresses that good tea requires a good
natural environment or ideal climate. Since green tea is considered to be of Asian
origin, Sino-Korean is used to emphasize that green tea grows better in its orig-
inal Asian climate - Asian wind, fog, and soil. The name of this green tea drink
is X , (Chawulin), a coined compound noun composed of the noun J)- (cha
'tea') and a verb stem with the perfect aspectual ending +E1 (wulin 'soaked out').
It shows a clear absence of English. This commercial demonstrates that anything
traditionally identifiable as Korean or Asian is advertised in Korean or Sino-
Korean. On the other hand, TV commercials for coffee use a mixture of Western
languages such as English, French, and Italian. The mixture of Western lan-

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

guages is frequently perceived as just English, just as any form of non-Asian

orthographic representation is viewed as Western. Anything Western is synony-
mous with English, regardless of its source language. In other words, English is
depicted as a representative of all Western languages.2' Here are a few examples
from coffee commercials:

(18) Taster's choice original. 5 S S. 71 1 Al i

Taster's choice original. Coffeelo kiektoynun sikan.
'Taster's choice original. Time to be remembered with coffee.'

(19) Cafe latte espresso. A} eo.t4 1 cafN latte :] gJ

Cafe latte espresso. Salanghantamyen cafe lattechelem.
'Caf6 latte espresso. If you love someone, love like cafe latte.'

Example (19) stresses how strong and powerful espresso is and draws an anal-
ogy between strong coffee and the intense emotions involved in passionate love.
Espresso and cafe latte refer to two different preparations of coffee outside Asia,
in the American context, for example. Espresso is strong, dark-roasted, black
coffee. Cafe latte is espresso served with plenty of steamed milk, which makes it
smooth, light brown, and not bitter or harsh. An interesting twist in meaning of
the product name Cafe latte espresso provides an instance of local adaptation
and creativity, which successfully delivers what it means to be in love for Kore-
ans - the yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) of the relationship. Thus, in this
Korean TV commercial, the bonding of espresso with cafe latte is attempting to
convey the masculine passion and feminine sweetness of love.

(20) French cafi. :c o I r+. QOt1 v. ?4D Tr &

French cafe. Tutie kuuy pangita. Akmauy yuhok.
'French cafe. Finally I am in his room. Devil's temptation.'

In example (20), as soon as a young female character looks at the canned

coffee drink named French cafe, it is transformed into a good-looking man with
a devilish image. The copy explains that her wish to be in this man's room has
finally come true and implicitly conveys her mounting sexual tension and antici-
pation, which goes against traditional Korean values regarding romance. It is
difficult for her to resist him.
The linguistic strategy of selecting either EM or KO depends on the products
advertised and the identities presented in each commercial. TV commercials about
alcoholic drinks provide another set of good examples. Korean rice wine is ad-
vertised in Korean and Sino-Korean, featuring a group of middle-aged men in
suits and ties, whereas beer commercials are in EM and feature young college
students or young office employees in casual outfits vacationing on an exotic
island or enjoying their happy hours after work.
Example (21), sharply contrasted with the beer commercials in (22)-(25),
provides a prime example of the linguistic contrast between "old" versus "young."
Example (21) lacks English altogether and advertises a Korean rice wine named
Paykseycwu, literally '100-year-old rice wine'. Its targeted consumers are appa

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

('dad') as the main copy indicates, referring to married men with children. The
appa is not single any more, unlike the young college students featured in beer
commercials:

(21) f 0 111?7*=l4st Cu9 t

Cohun swullo sicakhanun appatuli cakkwucakkwu nulenapnita. Paykseycwu
'Increasing number of dads start with good rice wine. Paykseycwu'

This wine is supposed to contain ingredients that are traditionally used in

Asian herbal medicine. The name has a double meaning; it could mean that the
rice wine itself is 100 years old with a long tradition, and/or that this wine has
health benefits, and whoever consumes it will be healthy enough to live 100
years. The lexical item appa sums up the identity of married Korean males with
children featured in this KO commercial. In terms of taste, they are associated
with traditional Korean rice wine and linguistically, which is more interesting,
with Sino-Korean. This is an age group who might arguably be most conscious
of longevity. Younger generations do not have to be worried yet about getting
old and having health problems.
Beer commercials are geared more toward the younger crowd. Their selling
point is not that beer will help consumers improve their health, but how beauti-
ful the bottle is. Characters featured in these commercials are college students in
Hawaiian shirts enjoying a vacation on an exotic island, or young office workers
enjoying a loud party in a beer garden.
Example (22) defies the usual sensory appeal of beer - its taste - and instead
appeals to its visual qualities. Younger generations are perceived to care as much
about what the product looks like as about how it tastes. What is easy on the eyes
is considered easy on the palate, too. This type of sentiment is not observable in
KO commercials:

(22) Cafri -!-_K!n }Al 3= T

Cafri nwunulo masinun maykcwu
'Cafri, the beer you drink with your eyes'

Another critical characteristic which is argued to be closely related to moder-

nity and globalization is hybridization (Bhatt 2003, Chouliaraki & Fairclough
1999, Giddens 1990, Hall 1996, Hall et al. 1996). In his discussion specific to
language mixing in global advertising, Bhatia (2001:200) contends that "hybrid-
ization in compounding is another feature of divergence from advertising in the
inner circle."22 Example (23) contains an instance of hybridization in the form
of English mixing, which succeeds in achieving the effect of whimsical word
play:

(23) E5 o1 Q 4 zjr} Hi Chu

Swulmasi ollakanta. Hi Chu
'The taste (quality) of alcoholic drink is rising (improving). Hi Chu'

The name of this alcoholic drink is a hybridized noun which consists of En-
glish Hi (short for high) and the English orthographic representation of the Ko-

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

TABLE 6. Selected examples of hybridization.

Hybridization Morphological explanation Product

Mini R k, Nl Mini (E)+rate (K)+ Cell phone

Mini+ yokum+cey plan or system (K)
T,~i megapass Wireless(K)+mega(E)+ Wireless computer
mwusen + mega + pass pass( E)
$$ Five Vegemil Korean mimetic expression Baby formula starting at
Sswuksswuk +Five+vege indicating growth spur (K) + the age of 4
(table)+ +mil(k) Five indicating age (E)+
vege(E)+truncation for milk (E)
4+4 11 E+ ? el d The initial syllable of the Chinese Instant black bean paste
Cca+paghetti +yolisa black bean paste noodles (K) + noodles
last three syllables of the English
word 'spaghetti' (E)+ cook (K)

rean word chu 'alcoholic drink'. This alcoholic drink is unique because it comes
in different fruit flavors. As the name indicates, this drink has "kicked the stakes
up a notch" in the alcoholic beverage industry by introducing the first fruit-
flavored beer in South Korea. The characters featured in this commercial are
young Koreans in a trendy beer garden.
The example of hybridization discussed on page 85 is not unique. Table 6
illustrates some other examples of hybridization in Korean TV commercials. E
stands for English and K for Korean.
Given the scripted and economy-driven nature of advertising discourse, lin-
guistic hybridity in the form of English mixing in South Korean TV commer-
cials is a carefully constructed exemplar of semiotic creativity with the marketing
of modernity in mind.

CONCLUS ION

The findings of this study indicate that there is a correlati

use and the expression of modernity. This connection between English use and
modernity construction is empirically evident in three domains of TV commer-
cials: technology, gender roles, and taste as a cultural form. Although these are
three discrete domains in the discourse of advertising, a common theoretical claim
can be made, supported by empirical evidence across these subdivisions of lin-
guistic constructions of modernity. There is a language-code dichotomy repre-
senting "traditional" versus "modern," "old" versus "young," "conventional"
versus "innovative," "conservative" versus "liberal." KO is connected with the
first member of each pair, and EM with the second.
For instance, within the same domain, say technology, KO cellular phone com-
mercials are associated with an old lady in the countryside who is not "up to

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 LINGUISTIC CONSTRUCTIONS OF MODERNITY

speed" with advanced modem technology, while EM cellular phone advertise-

ments portray teenagers or young adults with unconventional mindsets. Age is
found to be a major element in the linguistic construction of modernity. In EM
commercials, an element of modernity is distinctly present, whereas KO com-
mercials lack this element entirely. The noticeable absence of English in Korean
commercials signifies tradition and not the construction of modernity.
However, this is not to say that the alignment between language use and mo-
dernity, which is often associated with age-sensitive subpopulations of Korean
viewers and consumers, cannot be violated. In fact, when this alignment is bro-
ken, it poses an interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon. When EM is used for a
normally old, traditional, conservative middle-aged adult in a commercial, it
means that this individual possesses an unexpected element of modernity. Con-
versely, when KO is used alongside a normally new, progressive, revolutionary
teenager in an advertisement, the message is understood to promote a traditional
element that is believed to be lacking in younger generations.
EM is a representative example of linguistic hybridization that enables young
Koreans to explore two linguistic codes at their disposal: Korean and English.
Korean-English bilinguals express their linguistic dexterity and creativity through
hybridization and localization. The use of English-mixing strategies reinforces
modernity in the newly emerging population of young Korean-English bilin-
guals in contemporary South Korea. Being an English-knowing and English-
using bilingual is one major exponent of modernity.
In his discussion of hybridity with respect to English in India, Bhatt (2003:18)
asserts that "the linguistic convergence of its form and functions gives rise to
possibilities for new meanings and, at the same time, presents a mechanism to
negotiate and navigate between a global identity and local practices." South Ko-
rea may not present a sociolinguistic context of language use as multilingual and
polyglossic as that of India. However, this new hybridity allows younger gener-
ations in South Korea to enter globalized discourses about technology, pop cul-
ture, and gender through English, while enabling them to stay rooted in their
ethnolinguistic histories through Korean. For modern Koreans, linguistic hybrid-
ity - codemixing in English - resolves the tension between global (i.e., domi-
nant English and American culture) and local practices.
This type of linguistic hybridity is not scarce in other genres of popular cul-
ture. In particular, popular music presents abundant examples of linguistic hy-
bridity in South Korea. Lee 2002 argues that English mixing allows young
Korean-English bilinguals to freely express socially repressed feelings such as
sexual desires, derogatory expressions, and anger. English mixing enables young
Korean musicians to exercise their artistic freedom without being offensive to
the conservative censorship board or older-generation audiences whose verbal
repertoire is unlikely to contain English. Young Korean-English bilinguals' rev-
olutionary and anti-establishment spirit is expressed through English (Lee 2004).
This claim is further empirically strengthened by the fact that one subgenre of

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 JAMIE SHINHEE LEE

pop music called Thulothu,23 which is specifically target

ations, does not contain English. Its lyrics are predominantly in Korean or Sino-
Korean. This absence of English supports one of the main claims I have made:
that age is a key factor that predicts language use and its implications with re-
spect to modernity.
This comparative analysis of Korean-only and English-mixing commercials
in the discourse of advertising reveals that there is a predictable correlation be-
tween a language code and constructions of modernity. TV commercials in South
Korea present an interesting case of three-way sociolinguistic alignment among
the elements such as generation, language, and modernity. English mixing is
used to indicate younger generations' modern identities, whereas the absence of
English use in the form of exclusive Korean and/or Sino-Korean signifies older
generations' traditional identities. When this alignment is broken, the resulting
marked choice generates a special meaning.
In terms of the interaction between identity construction and modernity, this
sharp contrast between old and new generations exists across all three domains
of advertising presented in this study. A product featured in the same domain of
technology can be advertised either exclusively in Korean or in English mixing
depending on which generation a given commercial aims to target, as well as
whether or not modernity is being promoted. The same explanation is applicable
to the remaining two domains of the advertising corpus for the present study,
gender roles and taste in cultural forms. English mixing serves as a sociolinguis-
tically optimal option for young Korean-English bilinguals to express their cre-
ative needs to identify with modernity and globalization.

N O T E S

* A preliminary version of the paper was presented at Sociolinguistic Symposium 15, April 1-4,
2004, at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. My sincere thanks to Rakesh Bhatt, Ingrid
Piller, Elizabeth Martin and Tej Bhatia for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions. I
would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their comments, and Alice
Filmer for her assistance with copyediting.
The distinction between codemixing and codeswitching is not made in the discussion on pre-
vious research.
2 Chinese character-based Korean, both spoken and written.
3 Source; Education policy published by the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Re-
sources Development ([Link] - 7 7tI-).
4 Source: [Link]
5 Information regarding how English skills are required in private sectors and government agen-
cies is from the source [Link]
h They include Daewoo, Keumho, Hyndai, Korean Air, Dacom, Lotte, Samsung, Dong-A, Asi-
ana Airlines, Doosan, Anam, Korea Tire, Korea Heavy Industry, Hyosung, Ssangyong.
7 The source website is [Link]. It is a TV audience research company. Its survey is
based on remote pushbotton Peoplemeters; mains communication in the house; guest viewing with
demographics; program appreciation scores (Al); picture matching for digital TV area.
8 It has to do with cultural traditions specific to food and cuisine.
9 They include well-established English loanwords due to a lexical gap.
10 Based on Bell's discussion and Figure 19.4 on page 247, "Persons and roles in the speech
situation."

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l 1 A Koreanized English expression for a company employee who depen

12 It refers to Chinese-character-origin Korean, especially in orthograp
13 This is a Sino-Korean expression for 'the older generation' (Minjun
dictionary 1986:293). It is often associated with conservative middle-aged Koreans.
14 The 'new generation' (Minjung Essence Korean-English dictionary 1986:1259).
15 Korean fermented pickled cabbage.
16 Young married women looking and acting like single women. It has positive connotations.
17 "An urban male with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his
appearance and lifestyle" (Source: [Link] "Metrosex-
ual is sort of a catch-all phrase for straight, urban men who like embracing activities usually associ-
ated with women - like shopping, pedicures and buying shoes - lots of shoes." (Source: ABC News
Live, August 5, 2003.) ([Link]
18 Brand of cellular phone. This Sino-Korean word is presented in Chinese characters in the orig-
inal copy.
19 A similar point is addressed in connection with example (2).
20 A Korean expression for married housewives. This dictionary type of definition is inadequate
to express its negative connotations.
21 For earlier discussion on a similar point, refer to the examples related to car commercials (7-9).
22 In his discussion of "Three Concentric Circles" based on types of spread, patterns of acquisi-
tion, functional allocations of English, Kachru (1992:356) defines the "Inner Circle" as "the tradi-
tional cultural and linguistic bases of English."
23 'Trot' in English. Japan also has a similar version called Ernka.

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(Received 20 January 2004; accepted 5 November 2004;

final revision received 18 March 2005)

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