Jieun Kiaer is Professor of Korean Linguistics at the University of Oxford. She publishes widely on East Asian linguistics, with particular emphasis on pragmatics. Her recent publications include Understanding Korean Film: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (with Loli Kim, 2021), More Than Polite (Routledge, forthcoming), and Pragmatic Particles: Findings from Asian Languages (2020).

Jiyoung Shin is Professor of Korean Linguistics at Korea University. Her research areas are phonetics and phonology, spoken grammar of Korean, and the role of prosody in subareas of linguistics. She is also interested in the ideology behind language. Shin has most recently published The Tug-of-War of the Language (2018) and The High Jump of Language (2021). She received the Presidential Commendation for her contributions to family policy in 2020.

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgments

Preliminaries

1. Introduction

1.1 Studies of Women's Languaging Habits

1.2 The Case of Japan

1.3 What are Language Cosmetics?

2. Womanhood in Neo-Confucian Society - Past and Present

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Transition from Goryeo

2.3 The Making of Womanhood in Joseon

2.3.i Women's place

2.[...] Oryun (¿¿) 'Five Relations'

2.[...] Women's Virtues

2.[...] Admonishment for Women

2.3.v Women's Misconduct

2.[...] Women's Education

2.[...] Women's Sorrow Han (¿): The Untranslatable Grief

2.4 Between the Joseon dynasty and contemporary Korean society

2.5 Neo-Confucianism in Contemporary Korea

2.5.i Father-son relation (bujayuchin ¿¿¿¿)

2.5ii King-Vassal Relation (gunsinyuui ¿¿¿¿)

2.[...] Husband-Wife Relation (bubuyubyeol ¿¿¿¿)

2.[...] Sibling relation (hyeongjeuae ¿¿¿¿)

2.5.v Old-young relation (jangyuyuseo ¿¿¿¿)

2.6 Marriage Migration

2.7 Exceptions: Gen Z in the Metaverse

2.8 Patriarchy in North Korea

2.9 Summary

3. The Linguistic Landscape of Korea

3.1 A Fine Line Between Nature and Nurture

3.1.i Studies of East Asia

3.[...] The Need to Avoid Generalisation

3.2 The Influence of the Linguistic Landscape

3.2.i Feminisation of Professional Titles

3.[...] Meanings of Yeosa (¿¿)

3.[...] Problematic Family Address Terms

3.[...] Terms of 'Endearment'

3.2.v Moving Towards a Gender-Neutral Language

3.3 Case Study: Invisible and Unheard in 100 Minute Debate

3.4 Summary

4. Language Cosmetics

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Language Cosmetics: More than Verbal Hygiene

4.3 Aegyo as a Linguistic Cosmetic

4.4 'Generation MZ' women

4.4.i The Fist Pump

4.[...] Closing eyes

4.[...] Hand over heart

4.5 Online Language Cosmetics

4.6 Summary

5. Language Cosmetics in Non-Verbal Behaviour

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Neo-Confucian Non-Verbal Indicators of Politeness

5.3 Gender and Gesture

5.5 The Samonim Dynamic

5.6 Summary

6. Conclusion

6.1 The Female Voice in the Future