The Influence of the Korean Wave on the Language of International Fans: Case Study of Algerian Fans

Abstract

The linguistic influence of the Korean Wave (Hallyu, which refers to the Korean pop and drama) on the language of International fans is that of a salient but not linguistically examined phenomenon. This study investigates the major aspects of this influence and the linguistic reasons behind its global prevalence. The practical part of this study is conducted on Algerian Hallyu fans from which a sample of 139 participants responded to the questionnaire used as a research instrument for achieving the goal of this study. Findings reveal that Hallyu influence is widely spread in Algeria, where by 98.5% of the participants declared the existence of this influence. This impact on participants' language starts from using Korean words in their daily discourse to using English words with an adapted Hallyu meaning and to naming phone contacts with the accurate Korean terms of kinship and endearment. Then, they start using linguistically odd inside jokes taken from Korean idols' and K-dramas' speech, employing Korean proverbs in their conversations, and gradually adopting a different pronunciation of some English sounds. Moreover, their language stands as a sample of Corpus Planning with two types: Modernization and Graphization. Some words are modernized in order to bridge the gap through Hallyu pals' communication with more precise words, while other words are graphitized for the sake of developing new terms or new meanings or to shorten long ones. This thesis contributes to the study of fandom language, generally, and to Hallyu language, specifically, as an aspect of Conversation Analysis (CA).

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