On the characteristic of personal reference terms in Korean: A comparison with Japanese based on TV dramas

Abstract

The current study explores the question of how people are referred to in everyday Korean conversation. As Enfield and Stivers (2007) put it, no matter the language or culture, we must choose from a range of options: full name ('Robert Smith'), reduced name ('Bob'), description ('tall guy'), kin term ('my son'), etc. However, in accordance with social norms or any linguistic constraints the language has, the way of using particular terms may vary among languages. The current study examines the use of first and second personal reference terms in Modern Korean, and demonstrates special features of Korean in the use of these terms, in comparison with those in Japanese. The study will investigate personal reference terms that are used in three Japanese drama series and their Korean remake versions, and show that Korean has a more distinguished 'kinship term system' compared to Japanese, and is further characterised as 'social-relationship-oriented' language.