2.2. Subordinate Patterns and Signaling Other sub-patterns can be found embedded within the main patterning. A Claim - Counterclaim pattern can be identified between the third and the fourth paragraph, in which Ahn (16) opposes the government’s policy. This counterclaim is clearly expressed through lexical items such as ‘strongly opposes,’ ‘why not,’ ‘should be more… than…,’ ‘furthermore,’ ‘unfounded myth,’ ‘should be used,’ ‘should learn,’ ‘not just.’ Shorter Claim-Counterclaim patterns exist at the sentence level. The reader’s letter (38-39) introduced by ‘though’ also goes against Ahn’s evaluation of the problem, with ‘new phenomena in their culture’ (39) contrasting with ‘flunkyism toward powerful neighbors’ (33). Also, at the beginning of the article, the situation is not described as problematic (1-4) until the purists argue it is actually grave (‘for purists, though’). Finally, the professor’s opinion (45-46) is immediately countered by the teenagers’ perspective (47-48), although there is no explicit signaling. The writer, when reporting these diverging opinions, remains neutral by introducing all the quotations with the verb ‘to say’. The extensive use of the direct mode as a distancing technique for the writer also works as “a textual strategy which dramatizes the narrative, legitimizes or evaluates the story being told.” (Caldas-Coulthard in Coulthard 1994: 304)
General - Particular patterns at the sentence level can also be identified. In the first paragraph, the first sentence after the list of examples (4) contains a general statement followed by more specific statements that develop it and another general statement at the end (7). The third paragraph also begins with a general statement followed by a series of sentences which justify and explain it, and a specific example at the end (15). Ahn’s quotations in paragraph 4 also begin and end with a general statement, with more specific sentences in-between, as shown by the hyponym ‘adults’ used after the superordinate ‘people’. The first half of the last paragraph also has a general statement (40) followed by specific examples and another general statement to end the ‘problem’ section (44).
Last, the three sections which give background and historical information (8-9, 25-29, and 34-36) work like short narratives and follow the structure of longer ones: ‘Setting - Complication - Resolution - Evaluation - Moral’ (in Jaworski and Coupland 1999: 227) For example, the first section begins with a setting (‘War-torn […] a half century ago’) followed by a complication (‘But schools […]’), a resolution (‘Today […]’), and an evaluation (‘Domestic newspaper lament […] That’s because […]’). The second section also has a setting (‘When South Korea industrialized […]’), a complication (‘Koreans could not find […]’), a resolution (‘They chopped, patched […]’), and an evaluation (‘Koreans feel awkward […] So […]’). The third section has a setting (‘during Japan’s 35-year colonial rule of Korea until 1945 […]’), a complication (‘recklessly adopted […]’), a resolution (‘were hated by their compatriots […]’), and an evaluation (‘the problem is […]’).
2.3. Relationship between the Patterns
The sub-patterns are not disconnected from the main pattern and can relate to it through a relation of compatibility or incompatibility. The Claim - Counterclaim patterns are inserted to serve as the backbone of the article to confront the views of purists (counterclaims) to those which most people hold (claims). Many of these oppositions are abrupt: on the one hand, the general view of the public, the Korean government, the reader of the newspaper, the teenage girls (left column in appendix B); on the other hand, through a relation of incompatibility, the purists, Ahn, and the mass communication professor (right column). The tone between these sections changes abruptly: very formal sections describing Ahn’s opinions are followed by casual examples of Konglish, just like the worrying professor at the end is undermined by the light-heartedness of the students. It is this alternation between serious and amusing, historical and actual, common people and purists, that creates much of the balance and charm of the article.
The narratives serve as breaks in the overall argument and are meant to inform the reader and shed some light on the current situation. All three use the past tense to introduce the digression (‘a century ago’ (8); ‘when South Korea industrialized’ (25) ‘were introduced’ (34) and the present tense or a quotation from Ahn to go back to the main theme and give the evaluation: ‘Today’ (10), ‘the writer said’ (29), and ‘Ahn said’ (37) “A change of verb form indicates the beginning of a new functional unit.” (Hoey in Coulthard 1994: 40)
2.4. Cohesion
Cohesion is realized in two main ways - grammar and vocabulary, and the two often intermingle. Grammatical cohesion, according to McCarthy (1991: chapter 2), has four main categories. The following examples highlight how the smaller pieces of the article (words and groups of words) are closely connected to create meaning while structuring the careful progression within the text from one idea to another:
• Referential relationships: Examples of personal reference include ‘they’ (2, 12, 26), ‘he’ (7), ‘his’ (14), ‘their’ (17, 46), ‘we’ (14, 20, 48), ‘our’ (20), I (48), etc… Demonstrative references include ‘that’ (12), ‘those’ (20), ‘these’ (37, 45), etc…
• Ellipsis and Substitution: In sentence 10 the subject (‘college graduates’) is not repeated after the ‘but’, and in sentence 12 the subject (‘they’) is omitted after the ‘and’. Examples of substitution are ‘them’ (17) standing for ‘children’, and ‘them’ (37) replacing Koreans.
• Conjunctive ties: In this text they are mostly adversative, reflecting the Claim-Counterclaim patterns (‘but’ (3), ‘though’ (5), ‘But’ (9), ‘But’ (22), ‘but’ (37), ‘though’ (38)) and causal, reflecting the general Problem - Solution pattern (‘That’s because’ (12), ‘So’ (29), and the unmarked causality between sentences 9-10). Temporal signals sequencing in time include ‘Beginning this year’ (15) and ‘When’ (25).
Cohesion in this text is realized mainly through lexical words since numerous semantic links across items of vocabulary can be identified. Lexical ties, according to McCarthy (1991: chapter 3), can be shown through reiteration (synonyms, near-synonyms, and superordinate) and collocation (lexical set).
• Reiteration: Some of the essential words of the article are repeated several times directly or through (near) synonyms. For example, Konglish is described as ‘mangled English’ (title), ‘hybrid lingo’ (5), ‘neither Korean nor English’ (6), ‘phony English’ (6); Konglish terms are coined as ‘nonsensical phrases’ (22) ‘wacky terms’ (26), ‘pseudo English expressions’ (37) and ‘meaningless English lines’ (43). The English language is referred to as ‘the international language of business’ (13) and the ‘lingua franca of the Internet age’ (14).
• Collocation: The words to describe Konglish expressions are part of the same lexical sets to connote disease (‘plagued,’ ‘proliferates’) invasion (‘creeping,’ ‘proliferates,’ ‘abound,’ ‘flooded in,’ ‘slew,’ ‘recklessly adopted,’) destruction (‘mangled,’ ‘sullies,’ ‘sabotages,’ ‘chopped,’ ‘patched,’ ‘twisted,’ ‘butchers’), and incomprehension (‘baffling,’ ‘cryptic,’ ‘meaningless,’ ‘wacky terms,’ ‘nonsensical, ‘tongue-knotting,’ ‘entirely different meaning,’ ‘without knowing,’ ‘pseudo English expressions,’ ‘wrong’).