Linguist landscape research, the study of publicly posted written texts such as billboards and road signs, has developed tremendously in recent years, but much of this research remains focused on larger places, with less focus... [ view full abstract ]
Linguist landscape research, the study of publicly posted written texts such as billboards and road signs, has developed tremendously in recent years, but much of this research remains focused on larger places, with less focus on smaller, more mobile texts. Drawing upon an ongoing project to collect samples of Korean milk cartons and an understanding of discourses analysis sensitive to both image and text, this paper examines a particular genre of written sign, that of milk cartons in South Korea. Milk cartons in Korea, especially those of flavored milk varieties, contain a wide variety of bilingual and translingual texts, colorful images, transliterations and sophisticated transliteration strategies, references to specific places such as Northern Europe, and creative and imaginative terms to refer to the flavors of the milk they represent while being marketed almost exclusively to Korean customers. As commercial texts, striving to advertise their milk products to potential purchasers, these milk cartons make aspirational claims to class and identity through these textual practices. Examining the English texts contained on these milk cartons, a distinction between those milk cartons that adopt English language Anglophone advertising discourses and more local English language practices reflects a particular class distinction, with other class markers such as the price of the milk, the branding of the milk, related images, and further text informing this analysis. However, other milk cartons making aspirational claims of class, health, and cosmopolitanism make far less use of English, adopting alternative means such as Korean language references to Northern Europe and imagery to make these claims. Additionally, the translingual strategies employed on these milk cartons, using English texts intermixed within Korean texts without any Korean translation, often require Korean customers to engage meaningfully with English texts, highlighting the ubiquity of both the English writing system and English texts in meaning making practices in Korea. Milk cartons, being ubiquitous in Korea and many other places, offer an opportunity to examine emerging discourse of class, modernity, and cosmopolitanism done through English, Korean, strategic translingualism, imagery, and more.
