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The traditional understanding of honorifics has often regarded them as linguistic forms reflecting relative social-positional differences, assuming a direct one-to-one relationship between social structure and language use. As implied by the term, the conventional understanding of honorifics has been associated with 'respect' and 'formality'. However, recent studies on honorifics suggest that speakers of languages with an honorific system do not merely choose honorifics passively based on social norms; instead, they actively and strategically select honorific forms to meet the demands of a given context. Consequently, people often shift speech styles in the same context and may even use non-honorific styles when addressing socially higher individuals. In this presentation, I will exemplify the use of honorifics that goes against general perceptions, exploring various social meanings and functions of Korean honorifics.

Sang-Seok Yoon is an Assistant Professor of Korean Linguistics in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Iowa. The primary focus of his research encompasses sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and second language acquisition. He specializes in the linguistic politeness of the Korean language and is recognized as one of the authors of the Integrated Korean Textbook series published by the University of Hawaii Press, which stands as the most widely used Korean textbook in the U.S.

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