Leiden University Student Repository

Francisco, Juenevive (2015)

“Oppa”; My Brother, or My Boyfriend?: A research on the Development of the use of Kinship Terms of Address in Modern Korean Language

Bachelor thesis | Koreastudies (BA)

Since the 1970's Korea's deep rooted system of kinship terminology has reportedly started being used inappropriately by the youngest generations in the country. Not only are these terms being used inappropriately within the familial context but people have also started using these terms when addressing non-kin. The current thesis endeavors to offer an explanation based on social development, as to why this development has taken place. Looking at speech patterns used by students in 10 popular webtoons it was able to establish the patterns in which kinship terms were applied. These results where then linked to social developments in Korea. Results showed that due to the vast amount of urbanization and industrialization the Korean nuclear family has come under a considerable amount of strain and as a result people have been looking for that bond and closeness outside of their primary homes. As Korea is a country in which hierarchy is strongly valued, the most logical way of forming...Show moreSince the 1970's Korea's deep rooted system of kinship terminology has reportedly started being used inappropriately by the youngest generations in the country. Not only are these terms being used inappropriately within the familial context but people have also started using these terms when addressing non-kin. The current thesis endeavors to offer an explanation based on social development, as to why this development has taken place. Looking at speech patterns used by students in 10 popular webtoons it was able to establish the patterns in which kinship terms were applied. These results where then linked to social developments in Korea. Results showed that due to the vast amount of urbanization and industrialization the Korean nuclear family has come under a considerable amount of strain and as a result people have been looking for that bond and closeness outside of their primary homes. As Korea is a country in which hierarchy is strongly valued, the most logical way of forming close bonds while still maintaining strong hierarchical connotations within the daily interactions, was using kinship terminology.Show less

korean kinship terms of address

Author

Francisco, Juenevive

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Koreastudies

Supervisors

Park, Jinhee

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en