SOCIO-CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DYNAMICS AMONG KOREAN IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN CANADA

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DYNAMICS AMONG KOREAN IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN CANADA

This research investigates the socio-cultural and linguistic dynamics among young Korean immigrants in the Korean immigrant church in Montreal, Canada, where two official languages exist along with diverse heritage languages brought by immigrants from all over the world. To this end, qualitative research methods with an ethnographic approach was used, and data were collected from interviews and a questionnaire with a total of 15 Korean teenage immigrant students along with participant observations of their participation in diverse activities in the Korean immigrant church located in Montreal, Canada, for four months. In addition, 4 adult members were also interviewed to see their perspectives about the roles of Korean churches for their younger generations as supporting data. The findings of this research show that the diverse social contexts, the different kinds of social relationships among church members, and the honorific characteristics of the Korean language affect their use of the Korean language within the Korean immigrant church. The findings also imply that Korean immigrant youth’s Korean language and identity maintenance can be enhanced and supported by the different kinds of social relationships with the Korean immigrant church context. Thus, this research indicates that Korean youth’s active participation in Korean church-related activities may enhance their Korean language development and cultural identity preservation and the significance of Korean immigrant churches overseas should be recognized for Korean immigrant youth’s preservation of the Korean language as their heritage language and Korean cultural identity within the multilingual society.