Perceptions of Konglish by English language users: An analysis of a reaction video and its comments on YouTube

Perceptions of Konglish by English language users: An analysis of a reaction video and its comments on YouTube

This study aims to analyze how Konglish (i.e., Korean English) is perceived by subjectsin a reaction video and its commenters on YouTube. Based on the netnographic approach,a short video that shows native English speakers’ reactions to Konglish words on the selectedYouTube channel Korean Englishman was analyzed through critical discourse analysis. About2500 comments of the video, which were written by various English language users bothin English and Korean, were also analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis showedthat the video mainly presented two typical figures of personhood (Park 2021a, b) withinthe discourse of Konglish: the native speaker reacting to Konglish with puzzlement andamusement and the overhearer of Konglish trying to enlighten the Korean English user onthe native speaker’s way of using English. However, an atypical figure of the native speakeridentifying the systematic rules of making Konglish words was also presented. The analysisof the comments further showed that most of the English language users were aligned withthe figure of the overhearer of Konglish, whereas some of them demonstrated critical viewson delegitimization or self-deprecation reflecting the notion of Koreans lacking in Englishcompetence. The findings of this study provide important implications for understanding thediscourse around the issue of Konglish as a cultural practice and using interactive onlineplatforms as mediational tools for language users’ learning and discussions.