[Walking Through Seoul] Seoul's Fascinating and Unique 'Linguistic Landscape'

Beyond Historical and Natural Landscapes:
Linguistic Landscapes and Soundscapes in the City
Walking Through Seoul’s Commercial Districts,
One Encounters a Diversity of Language Signs
Korean Itself Changes in Many Ways,
Depending on Region, Generation, and Situation

Every famous city in the world has its iconic images. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, the Statue of Liberty in New York, and Tiananmen in Beijing are examples. What about Seoul? Rather than a specific building, the view of Namsan from the top of Bukchon Gahoe-dong and the waves of hanok roof tiles seem to be well known. In urban planning terms, the concept connecting the waves of hanok roof tiles and Namsan is called landscape. Historical buildings like hanok are referred to as historical landscapes, while places that retain their natural state are called natural landscapes. As a social consensus has formed that both history and nature have value, Seoul’s historical and natural landscapes have been preserved. Many cities around the world are implementing similar policies.

However, there is another interesting aspect of the landscapes that make up a city beyond the visible historical and natural landscapes. This is the ‘linguistic landscape’ and ‘linguistic soundscape’ related to the language used in daily life. Linguistic landscape research began in the late 1990s with the study of written characters including city signs and billboards, and today it has grown into a subfield of linguistics. Since language includes sounds, the so-called written form alone cannot fully capture the overall linguistic landscape of a city. Therefore, recently, the various sounds heard in cities have emerged as an advanced research subject.

From this perspective, Seoul is a city with a very unique and fascinating linguistic landscape and linguistic soundscape. First, let’s look at the linguistic landscape composed of written characters. Wherever you go in Seoul’s commercial areas, you encounter complex signs. Rather than being made according to strict rules, they seem to have naturally formed according to the preferences and circumstances of shops and businesses. Linguistically, Korean and English dominate, but Chinese and Japanese are also quite common, and sometimes signs in Vietnamese or various European languages can be seen. In areas with many foreigners such as Myeongdong, Itaewon, Daerim-dong, and Dongdaemun, foreign languages sometimes appear more than Korean.

Commercial street signs in Seoul - Signs line the area around Insadong where citizens and foreigners go shopping. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Here, a point to pay close attention to is the difference between characters and language. Hangul was developed for Korean but can be used to write other languages. Conversely, the alphabet is used in many language communities that use different scripts, including Korean. Chinese characters are different again. Since Korean can be written in Chinese characters, a sign in Chinese characters does not necessarily mean Chinese or Japanese. Viewed this way, Seoul’s commercial areas feel like a language playground. Korean is written in alphabets or Chinese characters, and English or other languages are written in Hangul, so walking just a little reveals a variety of unique signs.

There are also many mixed signs freely using alphabets, numbers, and symbols. The letter ‘e’ gained an image related to future advanced technology with the spread of email in the 1990s, and since the English alphabet pronunciation sounds like the Korean demonstrative pronoun ‘i’, many signs start with ‘e’ such as ‘e-pyeonhan sesang’ and ‘emart24’. In the same vein, new English expressions are created. For example, placing ‘nice to’ before the convenience store CU logo means ‘nice to see you’.

Mixed signs with foreign languages have existed for a long time but rapidly spread in the 2000s. This reflects the trends of ‘globalization’ in the 1990s, the spread of the internet, and the social atmosphere brought by democratization. On the other hand, voices advocating for writing Hangul beautifully also increased. Jongno-gu encouraged replacing alphabet signs with Hangul, resulting in Hangul signs at Starbucks or Paris Baguette stores at the entrances of Insadong or Seochon.

Seoul’s linguistic soundscape is not as diverse as the streets with various characters, but it has many interesting aspects. Korea does not have many immigrants and is not a bilingual country, so the sounds heard are naturally mostly Korean. In tourist-heavy areas, foreign languages are often heard, with English playing the role of an international lingua franca, but non-native English speakers outnumber native speakers. Since foreigners use various languages among themselves, busy streets and alleys are vivid scenes of a linguistic cocktail.

Foreign languages are not the only interesting aspect. In Seoul, one can experience various forms of Korean. Since the 1960s, as economic growth accelerated, people from all over the country flocked in, filling Seoul with various regional dialects. Many try actively to learn the Seoul dialect, but not everyone does. Older generations tend to use strong dialects, but as more people are born in Seoul, dialects are gradually disappearing even within the city. This has created generational differences, and the words used have changed so much that listening to modern Seoul speech can feel like hearing another dialect.

An interesting point about the linguistic soundscape is the volume of speech. The same words are spoken louder or softer depending on the situation. Seoul tends to have a wide range of speech volume, with intimacy being the biggest influence. Close friends speak loudly, while less familiar people speak softly. In recent years, there has been a clear trend toward speaking more quietly. Voices may rise when drinking alcohol, but overall, voices are quieter than before, especially when using public transportation.

The biggest causes of changes in Seoul’s linguistic landscape and linguistic soundscape are social diversity brought by democratization and increased international exchange. During the period of rapid economic growth, most Seoul citizens were born elsewhere, including rural areas, but today, many are born in Seoul or other cities and are accustomed to urban life, which also influences these changes.

What will happen in the future? Just as society always changes, language always changes. In Korea, rapid urbanization has ended, and society is much wealthier and more stable than before. Therefore, the pace of change may slow down. However, if the gateway for immigrants from abroad widens, the linguistic landscape, especially the linguistic soundscape, will become more diverse. Whether that gateway will widen remains uncertain.

Robert Pauzer, Former Professor at Seoul National University