Language and Sexuality in South Korea: A Case Study

Abstract

This case study examines the language and sexuality of a gay man living in South Korea, exploring current literature, theories, and interview data as a way of investigating sexuality as a marker of identity. I define sexual identity in this case through the subjective reality of the participant as he expresses his ‘true’ self in the lived experience of his travels to different countries and speaking multiple languages. The aim of this study then is to analysis the discourse using Philip and Jorgensen’s (2002) method of critical discourse analysis from a single interview to see how pronoun selection, language selection, speech intonations and inflections in his speech to see how it informs current research in Korean Studies and gender discourses.