Prospects for Language Rights Issues in South Korea: An Interdisciplinary Study Based on Historical Background and Legal Policy

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02751
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Sugiyama Jogakuen University
• Principal Investigator: Higuchi Kenichiro 椙山女学園大学, 文化情報学部, 教授 (40386561)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 韓国 / 言語政策 / 言語権 / 地域方言 / 社会方言

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The study commenced with a theoretical investigation into the issue of language rights in South Korea, the identification of issues, and a discussion of the relationship between the South Korean legal system and language rights. As part of the effort to clarify the relationship between the formation of the South Korean nation-state and various language-related institutions and the history of their social acceptance, the study analyzed language policy during the U.S. occupation (1945-1948), Korean long-form historical novels, debates over orality, and issues related to language rights in Jeju Island and Jeollanam-do Province. The connection between social dialects and language policy in South Korea was also the subject of developmental and applied research. In addition, comparative studies with cases in Japan and Southeast Asia (primarily Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) have been conducted with the assistance of outside researchers.

Free Research Field

東アジア地域研究　言語政策研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

韓国の言語権について十分な質・量の資料を利用し、法政策や歴史的経緯を踏まえて総合的な考察を試みた研究は、韓国でも十分に行われていなかった。本研究では、言語政策の動向が今後の韓国の社会統合の鍵を握るという認識に立って、研究の空白を埋めるとともに、その成果によって今後の言語政策研究の学術水準の向上に貢献することを目指した。また、米軍政期の言語政策、長編歴史小説の分析、オラリティをめぐる議論、社会方言を扱った研究業績は、今後の言語権研究、言語政策研究の新たな視点と手法を提供しうると考える。