DOI: 10.1177/13670069261475459 ISSN: 1367-0069

Russian–Korean Language Contact in the Linguistic Landscape of South Korea’s Russophone Enclaves

Marc Yi Fei Yeo
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Purpose:

This study examines Russian–Korean language contact among South Korean–based Russian-speaking migrants, drawing on examples from the linguistic landscape of Russophone enclaves in South Korea. Among the Russophone diaspora’s diverse ethnicities, this study focuses on Koryo-saram , or Russian-speaking Koreans from the former USSR. Since the 1990s, more than 100,000 Koryo-saram have migrated to South Korea. Koryo-saram , who constitute most of South Korea’s Russian speakers, have established numerous Russian-speaking enclaves, creating conditions for contact between Russian speakers and the wider language of communication, Korean.

Methodology:

This study adopts a mixed-methods linguistic landscape analysis, quantitatively and qualitatively identifying instances of Cyrillicized Korean, or Korean written/transliterated in the Russian Cyrillic script, in the enclaves’ Russian-language signages.

Data and Analysis:

The quantitative analysis documents the number and proportion of Cyrillicized Korean terms and signages containing Cyrillicized Korean while the qualitative analysis explores aspects of Cyrillicized Korean usage in these signages.

Findings:

The findings reveal five translingual and trans-scriptal aspects of Cyrillicized Korean usage across 97 signages: hybrid terms combining Russian and Korean linguistic elements, Cyrillicized Korean terms with localized meanings specific to South Korea’s Russian-speaking contexts, use of Cyrillicized Korean mostly without Russian translations/explanations, interchanging of Cyrillicized Korean words and alternative Russian terms, and multiple Cyrillicizations of Korean-origin words.

Originality:

This study is the first to systematically examine linguistic outcomes of contact between Korean and migrant languages like Russian within South Korea’s increasingly multicultural and multilingual linguistic landscape that is being transformed by an influx of migrants, innovatively demonstrating how linguistic landscapes serve as a site for analyzing language contact in migration contexts.

Implications:

This study informs research on language contact in Korean- and Russian-speaking contexts, as well as in the linguistic landscapes of ethnic enclaves by filling a gap in the understudied area of interactions between Korean and migrant languages in South Korea.

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