Two processes of reproducing monolingualism in South Korea

Abstract

Using the notion of language ideology as a primary tool, this article identifies mono-lingualism as an ideological construct. It demonstrates how language ideologies may reproduce monolingualism by erasing elements of the sociolinguistic field that do not fit with the monolingual vision of a society, a process that has particular significance in the context of globalization, in which the spread of global languages and transnational movement of speakers constantly challenge the idea of state monolingualism. The case in point for this article is South Korea, which, despite a recent emphasis on English language learning, appears to maintain its traditional image of a highly monolingual society. I argue that this monolingualism is not an absence of English, but an erasure of the presence of English, accomplished through language ideological work. To illustrate this point, I outline two ideologies – externalization, which frames Korean uses of English as un-Korean (thus as something in which ‘real’ Koreans would not engage), and self-deprecation, which frames them as ‘bad English’ (thus as not English at all) – and explain how they are employed in Korean discourses of English to deny the possibility of Korean-English bilingualism in Korean society.