Abstract

This paper addresses the influence of socio-psychological categories on the codeswitching behavior of Korean–English bilingual speakers. While some research has been done on structural constraints on codeswitching, including on Korean–English codeswitching (e.g. J.-E. Park, 1990; J.-O. Choi, 1991; K. K. Yoon 1992), attention to the social factors involved in bilingual interaction has also shed light on such psycholinguistic phenomena as the conceptualization of meaning and interpretation of speech. In this vein, the present discussion surveys the research in codeswitching in conversation (Auer, 1998; Li, 1995, among others) to show how discourse-based studies of codeswitching can provide insights into psycholinguistic issues of interaction.

Gumperz's (1982a, 1992) concept of contextualization involves the use of various contextualization cues that serve as strategies for the expression and interpretation of verbal activities. Among these various cues (e.g. prosodic, gestural, and kinesic cues), codeswitching is identified as another such cue that serves to make relevant certain aspects of the context of interaction. In a detailed analysis of bilingual data, I show how the socio-psychological categories of relative age and status in Korean interaction become contextualized as relevant categories in Korean–English interaction. Observable actions that are mediated through interaction provide evidence for how the switch is produced and interpreted by speakers. This particular codeswitching strategy points to how Korean social categories are conceptualized in Korean–English bilingual discourse and suggests a means of observing the relationship between linguistic codes, cognitive processes, and socio-psychological categories.