Dr. Young-Key Kim-Renaud

powered by
COS Expertise®
George Washington University
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
East Asian Languages and Literatures
Chair
George Washington University
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
Korean Language and Culture and International Affairs
Professor
Professional Headshot of Young-Key  Kim-Renaud

Mailing Address

Rome 469
George Washington University
Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures
Washington, District of Columbia 20052
United States

Contact Information

Phone: (202) 994-7107
Fax: (202) 994-1512
kimrenau@gwu.edu
http://home.gwu.edu/~kimrenau

Qualifications

Certificate, Universidad de Madrid, Spanish, 1980.
Ph.D., University of Hawaii, Linguistics, 1974.
Certificate, Universität Heidelberg, German, 1968.
Degré Supérieur, Université de Paris, French, 1966.
M.A., University of California, Berkeley, Linguistics, 1965.
B.A., Ewha Woman's University, English, 1963.

Expertise and Research Interests

A theoretical linguist by training, I combine language teaching and linguistic research, finding them mutually beneficial. My dissertation 'Korean Consonantal Phonology' has been one of the most cited works in Korean linguistics over the last thirty years, and has been pivotal in numerous phonological articles and dissertations that have followed. I have claimed that while many phonological processes in Korean are assimilatory, which is rather common in world languages, other phonological phenomena are governed by Korean specific tendencies: the tendency for an intervocalic consonant to weaken; the tendency for a preboundary consonant to be unreleased; the strong nature of the utterance initial position.

Another recurrent theme in my work has been the nonabrupt nature of historical change. Semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic reasons as well as phonetic causes of linguistic change are discussed in studying coexisting forms in language as well as historical change.

I have edited a volume presenting a comprehensive overview of contemporary theoretical studies in all aspects of Korean linguistics. My edited book on the Korean writing system is the first comprehensive scholarly treatment of Han'gul published in English, with chapters by diverse and leading scholars in Korean linguistics and history. As a backdrop to explain the creative scientific and philosophical environment behind the invention of what has been called ''one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind,'' I have also edited a volume on the culture and society of the fifteenth-century Korea, the sage King Sejong's era, for the general audience as well as for Korean studies specialists.

My interest in second language acquisition has grown over the years, as I have been engaged in teaching foreign languages now for more than 30 years. Mistakes as well as novel sentences by the students reveal a great deal about linguistic structure, both in universal and language specific sense. I believe that this is also a constant check on the existing theories, which must be continually modified. Because of the particular nature of the Korean language and Korean studies instruction in the United States, I am actively engaged in the research on the history and governance of Korean language instruction in America.

As a Korea specialist, I have also done research on Korean education and on the history and current social and political status of the Korean peninsula and of the immigrant Koreans in the United States for broader audience. My most recently edited book in the Korean humanities, which is published by M.E. Sharpe, is entitled 'Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth through the Twentieth Centuries.'

I have also been involved in literary translations, and my English translation of Hahn Moo-Sook's Korean original long novel, 'Yoksanun hurunda,' under the title of 'And So Flows History,' was published by the University of Hawai'i Press. My experience with translation has directed my attention to the relation between language and culture. I am keenly interested in language change reflecting socio-cultural change, in particular as a mirror of the rapidly changing values, customs and class structure. Another important research topic for me has been the relatioonship between language and politics, nationalism, and power. The Korean honorific system and its change over time have been an object of my research over many years. Another specific topic that has been interesting to me for a long time is the relationship between grammatical tense and its pragmatic use, especially in literary works in Korean.

I was the mentor to one of my students, Catarina Kim, a sophomore majoring in International Affairs/Asian Studies and minoring in Spanish and Korean languages and literatures, who was one of the first 12 recipients of the George Gamow Undergraduate Research Fellowship, which is a special research initiative established by The George Washington University in 2002. Our project was to jointly work on an English translation of Hahn Moo-Sook's acclaimed 40-page short story, "Ch'ukche wa unmyôngûi changso" or "The Site of Festival and Fate" (1947). The second goal of our project was to learn about the process of translating a literary work. Our co-authored paper was presented under the title, "Issues in Rendering Modern Korean Fiction into English: Toward a Theory of Translation" in a conference titled 'Craft, Critique, Culture: The University of Iowa's 3rd Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Writing in the Academy,' March 28-30, 2003 (Incidentally, Catarina was the only undergraduate to present a paper at the prestigious conference). The translation, however, is still to be polished, and our theory of translation that is still tentative remains a topic of long-term interest for me.

I am currently writing an "Essential Grammar of Korean", intended for the general public but also informative for linguists. I am also one of the major contributors to a book entitled "The Languages of Japan and Korea" edited by Nicolas Tranter. These two books are to be published by Routledge Publishers. My third book project, which is at a planning stage, is one on the "New Women of Korea", focusing on those women from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, who have embraced modernization without compromising their traditional image of women and contributed significantly to Korean development.

Other Expertise

Academic Experience:

As a person of Korean origin, I am deeply interested in the present and future of the Korean peninsula. I have published an essay in a recent issue of the COSMOS magazine on the prospects of peace and reunification of this strategic land in Northeast Asia from both public and personal points of view. In October 2003, I served as a discussant in a panel on 'North and South Korean Attitudes and Policies' at the Mid-Atlatic Regional Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies held at GWU. In 2003 and 2005, I organized and chaired "Korea Peace Day Panel Discussions." The 2003 topic was 'Remembrance and Reconciliation' and the 2005 one was on 'Cultural Approaches to Peace on the Korean Peninsula'. I organized a film showing ("A State of Mind" directed by Daniel Gordon) as part of the 2005 event. These events were organized in cooperation with the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea (ASCK, www.asck.org).

I am an organizer, fund-raiser, and leader of numerous cultural activities, conferences, academic panel discussions, and consultant on Asia-related affairs. In 1999, I helped GWU win a million-dollar grant from the Korea Foundation, which was matched by the same amount by GWU in the so-called "Asian Financial Crisis" in 1997. As a consequence, we have created and hired a highly qualified history professor for a newly endowed position in Korean Studies at GW. In 2005, I contributed to GWU's winning another endowment grant support from the Korea Foundation, this time for a position in Political Science.

I raised funds for operation of the Korean program at George Washington University from public and private sectors by organizing music (1986, 1992), martial arts, and ballet (1988) performances and the showing of ''Sop'yonje,'' a special feature film (1993) at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Theatre in D.C. Most of the proceeds from these events and from the sales of the book on King Sejong I edited (1992; 1997)have gone into creating a Korean Language and Culture Student Prize Fund and a Korean studies scholarship fund at GW. I have also received grants for various other cultural and academic activities at The George Washington University.

Other cultural activities which I organized include the 1990 United States College Korean Film Festival, which toured 22 universities throughout the nation, and I curated an exhibition introducing cultural and scientific achievements of the 15th-century King Sejong in one of Korea's golden ages.

In addition to cultural activities, I organized and chaired a conference for the Asia Pacific Island American Awareness Program of the National Education Association in Washington, DC (1978) and organized the following: 1) A lecture series for the Smithsonian Institution's Resident Associate Program (1988); 2) A panel on Korean linguistics, entitled, ''Radical Changesin theKorean Language,'' at the Association for Asian Studies meeting (1990); 3) The Eighth International Conference on Korean Linguistics (1992); and 4) A special symposium on the Korean Writing System (1992).

I am the initiator and co-convener (with R. Richard Grinker andKirk W. Larsen) of the Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities series established in 1995 with an endowment established by the gift of the Hahn Moo-Sook Foundation in Seoul. Hahn Moo-Sook (1918-1993) is one of Korea's most honored writers, andthe Colloquium series upholds and recreates her spirit of openness, curiosity, and commitment to education. In the capital of the United States--a very political town--where programs on policy-oriented current affairs reign, the HMS Colloquium series at GW purports to provide a forum for academic discussion of the Korean humanities, as Korea's presence has been increasingly felt on the international arena in various cultural and academic subfields. In this meeting participants are invited to enjoy an interdisciplinary and international dialog on Korean arts, history, language, literature, thought and religious systems in the context of East Asia and the world.

We have videotaped every meeting, and since 1999, we have also produced a monograph each year with the papers and commentaries presented at the colloquium, slightly revised to reflect audience input. One of the colloquium resulted in a book 'Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth through the Twentieth Centuries,' published in 2003 by M. E. Sharpe in Armonk, New York.

I am frequently consulted by various Korea related programs and media. For example, I have been interviewed and quoted in such news media as New York Times, Korea Times, Korea's Economy, Mid-Atlantic Bulletin of Korean Studies, and NPR, VOA, Smithsonian, Radio-WGMS in Washington and KBS in Seoul. In addition, I spoke at the Asian Real Estate Association of Washington, DC, Seminar (1989). I have also given lectures at various universities and other organizations, including the following: Yale University (1989), Harvard University (1989), University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee (1994), The George Washington University (many times), The State Department's Area Studies Program (1989, 1990, 1991); The University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (1991); The Korean Association of University Women (1991); The Fulbright Training Program in Korea (1993);The Asia Society (1993); The JuniorLeague of Washington (1995), and the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch (1997, 1998).Most recently I gave a lecture to some 500 visiting political and societal leaders--ROK National Assemblymen, educators, CEOs of various companies and organizations--at GW (2003).

I have also served as expert witness in both criminal court and civil cases.

Since 2002: Editor of _Korean Linguistics_, The official journal of the International Circle of Korean Linguistics.

Future Research

I have three different types of on-going projects:

Linguistic Research:

(1) Korean honorifics and its change. I have already presented several papers on this topic, and would like to eventually write a comprehensive book on the topic.

(2) Tense and Aspect in Korean Literary Narratives

(3) Variation and Change in Korean Sound Symbolism

Industrial Relevance

My study on politeness and honorifics could provide some crucial, cultural understanding of the Koreans, which could be considered when negotiating with Koreans (from both South Korea and North Korea). Change in Korean honorifics reflects social change in Korea. Political, economic, social, and scientific exchanges at governmental and private levels will benefit from increased understanding of what Koreans consider a polite behavior and how it has been changing.

Linguistic and cultural analyses can play a key role in certain legal cases. I have testified in court for criminal and civial cases as an expert in Korean language and culture.

Cross-cultural analyses can help educators dealing with students whose mother tongues are different from the main-stream language. I have consulted for bilingual programs and lectured for adoptive parents learning about Korean language and culture.

Keywords

COS Keywords:

Applied Linguistics, Korean Language Or Literature, Language Acquisition and Development, Language and Or Literature, Translation, Linguistics Or Philology, North Korea, Phonology, Sociolinguistics, Syntax, Translation.

Additional Terms:

Applied Linguistics, East Asian Humanities, Historical Linguistics, Intercultural Communication, Literary Translation, Phonology, Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, Syntax, Theoretical Linguistics.

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

French: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
Korean: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
Japanese: (Functional, Functional, Basic)
Spanish: (Functional, Functional, Basic)
Chinese, Mandarin: (Functional, Basic, Basic)
German: (Basic, Basic, None)

Memberships

American Association of Teachers of Korean
Association for Asian Studies
Fulbright Association
International Association for Korean Language Education
International Circle of Korean Linguistics
Linguistic Society of America
Linguistic Society of Korea
The Asia Society
The Cosmos Club
The Korean Language Society

Honors and Awards

2003, The Global Korea Award, The Council on Korean Studies, Michigan State University
2002, Fellow, Institute for Corean-American Studies, Inc. (ICAS),
2002, 'Pathways into Korean Language and Culture: Essays in Honor of Young-Key Kim-Renaud' (662 pages), edited by Gregory K. Iverson, Sang-Oak Lee, Sang-Cheol Ahn, and Young-mee Yu Cho, Pagijong Press
2000, Member, the Cosmos Club, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
1999, Achievement Award, International Association of Korean Language Education (IAKLE)
1996, First Maurice East Award, Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars, George Washington University
1993, Election to Phi Beta Delta Honor Society, the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars, Beta Omicron Chapter.
1990-1992, President, International Circle of Korean Linguistics.,
1986-2001, Three Fulbright Awards, George Washington University, (1) Korean Language Teaching; (2) Islamic Culture and Civilization; (3) Change in Korean Honorifics Reflecting Social Change
1975, 1975, Elected to the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.,
2006. The Republic of Korea Order of Cultural Merit, Jade Class (Taehanmin'guk Okkwan Munhwa Hunjang), The Korean Government, life-time contribution to the advancement of Korean language and culture.

Previous Positions

1987-1996, Associate Professor, George Washington University, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, East Asian Languages and Literatures
1986-1987, Visiting Lecturer, Harvard University
1984-1986, Assistant Professor, George Washington University, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, East Asian Languages and Literatures
1982-1984, Lecturer, George Mason University
1980-1981, Researcher, University of Paris
1978-1979, Assistant Program Director, National Science Foundation, Linguistics

Funding Received

  • 1998: Grants from the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, Columbian College of Arts and Science, and Women’s Studies Program: Sparks of Creativity: Women in the Korean Humanities, a conference at GW, Jul 1998 to Jun 1999.
  • Fulbright Scholar Proram: Fulbright Senior Research award [ '“The Role of Panmal in the Korean Honorific System'], $34,400, Aug 1-Dec 31, 1997 to May 1-July 31, 1998.
  • The Korea Foundation: Sabbatical Supplementary Research Support, $33,000, 2006 to 2006.
  • GWU-CCAS: Faculty Research Support, $7500, 2006 to 2006.
  • Grant from the Korea Foundation: Korean Langauge and Culture Program Assistantships, 1995 to 1996.
  • Korean Culture and Arts Foundation: Translation of Hahn Moo-Sook's novel, And So Flows History, 1990 to 1995.
  • Korean Ministries of Information and of Culture: Film festival shown at 22 colleges throughout the United States, 1990 to .
  • The Korea Research Foundation: Korean Language Education Research and Teaching Project for the Korean Language and Culture Program at GW, 1986 to 1989.

Publications

  • (2006) "The Military and Korean Society" In Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. Larsen (eds), The 12th HMS Colloquium in the Korean Humanities, Washington, DC, The George Washington University Sigur Center for Asian Studies
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud and Miok Pak (2006) "Agreement in Korean Syntax: A Case of Sentence Final Particles", Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics XI: 548-561, Cambridge, MA
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud (2006) "Hangugo kugoe pogubui hyonhwanggwa kwaje [Current status of Korean language education and our Task]",, a Conference with Invited World Experts Commemorating the Promotion of the Korean Alphabet Day, The Republic of Korea National Assembly and the National Institute of the Korean Language, Seoul, Korea, the National Institute of the Korean Language, 7-27 pages
  • Hahn Moo-Sook [translator, Young-Key Kim-Renaud]. (2005) And So Flows History, , an English translation of Hahn Moo-Sook's Korean original, entitled Yoksanun hurunda, Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press, 282 pages
  • (2005) The Military and South Korean Society In Young-Key Kim-Renaud R. Riachard Grinker and Kirk W. Larsen (eds), 12th Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities, Washington, DC, The George Washington University Sigur Center For Asian Studies
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud (2004) "Mixed Script and Literacy in Korea", Korean Linguistics, 12 (161), 182
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud and John B. Whitman], (2004) 2004b: Studies in Korean Syntax and Semantics by Susumu Kuno with Young-Joo Kim, Soo-Yeon Kim, Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Ik-Hwan Lee, Ken-Ichi Takami, and John B. Whitman, Washington, DC:, International Circle of Korean Linguistics and Seoul: Pagijong Press (282 pages)., 282 pages, ISBN=1-882177-02-9
  • (2004) Sigur Center Asian Paper Vol. 20 In Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. Larsen (eds), Korean American Literature, , Washington, DC,, The George Washington University Sigur Center for Asian Studies
  • (2005) Korean Education In Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker and Kirk W. Larsen (eds), The 11th HMS Colloquium in the Korean Humanities, The Military and South Korean Society [co-editor with R. Riachard Grinker and Kirk W. Larsen]. Sigur Center Asian papers, Vol. 26,, Washington, DC, The George Washington University Sigur Center for Asian Studies
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, “Korean Linguistic Analyses in the United States”, Han’guŏhak (Journal of the Association for Korean Linguistics), 18, 323-388, 2003
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud [ed.], Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth through the Twentieth Centuries, 2003
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, “Intensity and Brightness in Korean Sound Symbolism”, Korean Linguistics, 11, 5-27, 2002
  • R. Richard Grinker, Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Kirk W. Larsen, Korean Music, Sigur Center Asia Papers, The George Washington University., 16, 2002
  • Cosmos, Journal of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC, “The Prospects for Peace and Harmony on the Korean Peninsula: Can the first signs of rapprochement translate into full reunification?” Cosmos, Journal of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC, :, Cosmos, 11, 71-76, 2001
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, editors, Christianity in Korea, Sigur Center Asia Papers, The George Washington University., 12, 2001
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, “Education in South Korea”, the World Education Encyclopedia, 2001 edition, the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan, edited by Rebecca Marlow-Ferguson, 1243-1268, 2001
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, 2001 'Change in Korean Honorifics Reflecting Social Change,' Language Change in East Asia, London: Curzon Press, edited by Thomas McAuley, 27-46, 2001
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, Editors, 2000: Creation and Re-Creation: Modern Korean Fiction and Its Translation, George Washington University Sigur Center Asia Papers, 8, 50, 2000
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, “Sejong’s Theory of Literacy and Writing”, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 31(1), 2000
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, 'A Semantic and Syntactic Analysis of Korean Honorifics,' IN 'Korean Syntax and Semantics: '91 LSA Institute Workshop, Santa Cruz, ed. by Chungmin Lee and John Whitman, 292-310, 2000
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, The Korean Language Reform of 1446 by Gari K. Ledyard (483 pages), Written Language and Literacy, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 4(2), 239-247, 2000
  • 'Pparûn parhwa, p’yôngsang parhwa, kûrigo caegusông [Fast Speech, Casual Speech, and Restructuring], IN 'Studies in Seoul Korean,' edited by Sang-Oak Lee, 1, 93-124, 2000
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Korean Language, Microsoft Encarta: Reference Suite 2000, 1999
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Nambukhan onomuntcha koch’al, The Role of Overseas Koreans in the 21st Century, 64-79, 1998
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Editor, 1998: King Sejong the Great: The Light of Fifteenth Century Korea, 1-251, 1998
  • Gregory K. Iverson, Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Phonological Incorporation of the Korean Glottal Approximant, Description and Explanation in Korean Linguistics, Cornell University East-Asia Series, 35-50, 1998
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Semantic Features in Phonology: Evidence from Vowel Harmony in Korean, Phonology I, 455-482, 1998
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Editor, The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure, 1-315, 1997
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Education of Heritage Learners and Non-Heritage Learners, Literacy & Hangul, 168-178, 1997
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Laryngeal Features and Laryngeal Neutralization by Linda Lombardi, Language, 73(2), 411-416, 1997
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Studies in Korean Linguistics: with an interview with Noam Chomsky, 1-231, 1996
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Korean Consonantal Phonology, 1-311, 1995
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Editor, Theoretical Issues in Korean Linguistics, 1-555, 1994
  • Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Editor, King Sejong the Great: The Light of Fifteenth Century Korea, International Circle of Korean Linguistics, 1-119, 1992

Profile Details

Last Updated: 2/1/2007

COS Expertise ID #226376
Reference this profile directly: http://myprofile.cos.com/kimreny76