Corpus Analysis of Representation of Mothers in the South Korean Press : the collocates of 엄마 (mom)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국사회언어학회
· 수록지 정보 : 사회언어학 / 24권 / 3호
· 저자명 : Minhee Bang

초록

Bang, Minhee. 2016. “A Corpus Analysis of Representation of Mothers in the South Korean Press: collocates of 엄마 (mom)”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 24(3). 157~189. This study analyses the main lexical collocates of 엄마 (eomma: mom) in the corpus of the South Korean newspapers from 1990 to 2015. The collocates are grouped to see what semantic themes can be found in constructing discourse on motherhood, Firstly, 엄마 collocates most frequently with 아이 (ai: child) accounting for average 10.44% of all occurrences of eomma, while only 1.38% of the instances of the English counterpart mom(s) occurs with the English equivalents of 아이 in the COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English). Secondly, there is a host of collocates referring to body parts and denoting physical closeness, conveying a sense of emotional intimacy and bond between a mother and a child. Thirdly, there are collocates denoting motherly love and care, juxtaposed with collocates denoting absence and suffering of mothers. Portraying mothers as a sacrificing caregiver while problematising their absence as a threat to children’s welfare positions women as having sole responsibility for child care. Lastly, there is a group of collocates related to education, reflecting the Korean zeal for education. The analysis of the collocate 엄마표 (eommapyo: mom-made) reveals how the responsibility of childcare and education is reduced to the personal and individual issue, with mothers being construed as a main agent of facilitating children’s academic success.

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