The nativization of English in the Korean context: Uncharted territory for World Englishes

Abstract

In recent years it has become increasingly popular to study Englishes in countries traditionally belonging to the Expanding Circle of World Englishes, such as China (see e.g. He & Li, 2009), Russia (see e.g. Davydova, 2012) or the Netherlands (Edwards, 2010, 2011). South Korea (henceforth Korea) belongs to the Expanding Circle as well, which means that English has the official status of a foreign language. Active use of English among Koreans themselves is limited but English has a very prestigious status in Korean society. In the following discussion, the sociolinguistic situation in Korea will be introduced, with a special focus on the status of English. Using data from a pilot corpus, I will argue for the development of several patterns of Koreanized English which seem to be partly influenced by the Korean language but are also possible results of the language learning process in general and idiosyncratic features.