Korean

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Last class, we talked about the New-Zealand born Chinese and new Chinese immigrants and how they form two distinct types of communities. I also introduced you last class to the immigration policy in NZ, and its affects on Asian immigration. I want to continue to talk about the Asian community in NZ, focussing on two Asian communities where the majority of the population are born elsewhere.  These are relatively new communities.  They are the NZ Korean and NZ Japanese communities, both of which are concentrated in Auckland, and both completely different.

Korean New Zealanders

Asian Englishes

Last class, we talked about the New-Zealand born Chinese and new Chinese immigrants and how they form two distinct types of communities. I also introduced you last class to the immigration policy in NZ, and its affects on Asian immigration. I want to continue to talk about the Asian community in NZ, focussing on two Asian communities where the majority of the population are born elsewhere.  These are relatively new communities.  They are the NZ Korean and NZ Japanese communities, both of which are concentrated in Auckland, and both completely different.

Korean Community

The Korean community, is relatively new community.  In 1991, there were less than 1000 NZ Koreans, in 2001, over 19,000  NZ  Koreans stated that they were born in Korea (NZ Census). The community is concentrated in Auckland, largely in Howick and the North Shore.

It is a close-knit community in terms of ‘residential contiguity’, a key factor in the maintenance of community languages. Residential contiguity refers to groups of community members living in close proximity to one another.  Close proximity usually means that regular interaction with community members. A key factor in promoting CL use.

Regular interaction with relatively large numbers of family members helps in the promotion of community groups (organisations), language schools, and churches.  These types of Institutional support, are an important in the maintenance and long term survival of community languages.

For the Korean community, there are a large number of social and cultural organisations in Auckland, given its relative newness as a community.  According to the Korean Times2000 there are:

• 67 Korean Churches in NZ (50 in Auckland)
• 8 Korean language schools (2 in Auckland)
  (Most Koreans attend Korean churches, and speak Korean there)

There are also Korean media resources

• five Korean newspapers
• two magazines (Korean Town and The Korea Times)
• three radio stations
• one TV programme

All help to maintain the Korean language in its new NZ context.

Language Use in the Korean Community

Given the recent nature of the community, the NZ Korean community is basically a first-generation community.  Almost all of the Korean community were born in SOUTH Korea (although a few were born in China) As a result, it has a number of characteristics

• the NZ Korean community is a recent community with stronger skills in Korean than in English.  English is not (yet) an official language in Korea, and so Korean tends to be the dominant language of NZ Koreans.
      (see Table 3: Self-Reported Skills in Korean and English
  –Mean score of 1.8 for Korean, 2.55 for English)
  
  
• Most Koreans are bilingual (to varying degrees) in English and Korean. Some are monolingual in Korean, monolingualism in English is almost unheard of.
  
  
• Parents tend to be more proficient in Korean (see Table3) than their children (so there are signs of language shift).  The reverse is also the case. Children tend to be more proficient in English (lots of  differences across speakers  given the relative  recency of the community)
  
  
• Most  NZ Koreans identify as Korean or as Korean New Zealanders (stuck in the middle)  -Table 2
  In my study with Jeong Kim, the females were leading in the shifts in identity…two of the youngest females identified as New Zealanders.
  
  
• Language Use tends to be in Korean Of the 1854 transactions Jeong Kim and I tracked for our study, (62.4%) were in Korean. In all other studies on Korean in New Zealand, individuals reported using Korean on a regular basis inside and outside the home.... Korean is still the preferred language.  This is not surprising given the relativeness newness of the community.
  
  
• Language use is affected by context…In NZ born communities, the addressor (child, grandparent) tends to be an important factor in affecting language choice.  However, in the Korean community, the addressee (who one is talking to- mother/sister), the topic (Korean-English topic), domain (home or at  work), and the situation (where in the home) all affect language use more than the addressee.
  

Language Diaries

Typically, language surveys tend to employ the sociology of language questionnaire as the main means of gathering data.  We talked about some of the difficulties with this approach last class.

In order to analyse the rate of shift in the Korean community, Jeong Kim and I employed a different method in the analysis of language use -the language diary.  Language diaries are ethnographic self-reports of daily speech interactions. In a language diary, the community report on their speech while it is taking place or shortly thereafter by recording the transactions on a grid, (Appendix A),
Time, Situation/Place  Circumstance Style Subject Role  Addressee (age, sex, lg background)

This approach was first used in Gibbons in a study of code-switching (the alternation of English and Cantonese) by Hong Kong university students.  We used it here to track the language use in the Korean community.

Aim: to provide a more accurate and detailed account of language use

• More real (did not make individuals generalise about their language use –normal language use with grandparents)
• Actual examples (based on real speech over an actual 7 day period)
• Frequency tabs... It allowed use to calibrate the extent to which language is used in particular contexts (the home was the more frequent place for language transactions…and perhaps this is why it is a place that helps promote CL use)

Limitations:

• reported speech.
• Smaller sample needed for this type of microscopic analysis

Study: Korean Community

6 families over a seven-day period

1854 transactions (1156 in Korean (62%), 28% English, 1 Japanese, others mixed)

The results

• Addressee important (Inner Speech functions/Language shift)
  Mostly Korean (Table6):
  To spouses, to family groups, to children, (by children) to parents (>80%)
  Less Korean : Siblings (children-children) 24.8%, Self-talk (29%) Korean
  
  
• Topic Important  (work public topics in English)
  Mostly Korean (Table 7) Cultural Matters (87.2%)
  Half & Half 67.8%-45.9% Social Matters, Education, Sports, Technology, Entertainment
  Business 35.3%
  
  
• Domain  (Home.Car most frequent language transactions/most frequent use of Korean
  Car 83.6%, Home 72.4%
      Semi-public (church, friend’s home, restaurant)
      Shop/Other public domains
      School & Workplace (18.8%, 7% -Korean language use)
• Situation (within the home)
  Having Meals (Korean)
  Watching TV & Playing Sports (45%, 35%)

Code-switching:
The results also show some interesting patterns with regards to code-switching:
the alternation of two or more languages in the speech of bilingual members of the NZ community. 

(This is something that couldn’t be done elsewhere-with the domain approach –because code-switching tends to be something that is almost unconscious- and definitely not something that people can effectly comment on)

Types:

• stretches of discourse (strings of sentences in one language) followed by strings of sentences in another language (sentential code-switching)
• parts of sentences (phrases)    intra-sentential switching
• single words  (code-mixing)    
  not necessarily balanced bilinguals (words for necessity in dominant culture) 

Code-switching may be unmarked triggered by:
(a) topics (formality/informality)
(b) addressees (eavesdropers  fluent in only one language)

Or marked (to signal a change in relationship/situation)

To signal a joke/change in relationship –angry. This latter function is common among balanced bilinguals

Claims: Some argue that code-switch to signal ethnic identity.  ‘Aipolo has argued that Tongan females code-switch to other Tongan females as a sign of in-group behaviour...

Some believe that code-switching is a sign of language shift. Myers-Scotton argues that with code-switching, there is often a dominant language.  If the dominant language is Korean, then it might be the case (according to her theory) that individuals who code-switch would use mostly Korean, but some English (nouns).  If the dominant language is English, the opposite would be expected and the bilingual speakers would tend to use mostly English (with some Korean). 

Two types of code-switching were reported on for the Korean study
K-English -mostly Korean with some English
E-Korean –mostly English with some Korean

 
Notes –examples in the Korean community
1.  Possible signs of language shift

• Addressors (possible inter-generational transfer)
  Mothers use more K-E (8.8%)
  Sons more E-K (4.3%) –Sons also use a lot of K-E
  
• Addressees (intergenerational)
  K-E (to children 10.6%, in family groups (7.2%), to parents (8.2%)
  no extensive E-K use reported for particular addressees

2. Possible signs of Code-switching because of a lack of the term (core word) in one

• language: entertainment & cultural matters
  Topic   K-E (Entertainment –12.2%)  -functional need
  E-K (–entertainment most 7.8%)
  E-K (Cultural Matters –transcending cultures 5.1% for EK and KE)
  
• Domain
  K-E Restaurant (17.4%), Shops (11.3%) –need to use terms in the dominant culture
  E-K – School 6.3%

3.  Social function at home:

• Situation
  K-E  Helping (24%), Asking for help/searching 13.6%, Studying (11%)
  E-K (in Bed 9.7%)

These suggest that code-switching may have a more intimate (in-group –solidarity function), a utilitarian role (to promote understanding in a dominant English context), and as a sign of language shift (siblings and school use more E-K) in the Korean community

It’s function needs to be examined in more detail.