| Korean does not yet have a universal Romanization standard, and the recent surge in Internet use along with the script limitations in computer-mediated communication (CMC) have given rise to numerous variations in Romanization. In this thesis I identify empirically the nature of and the problems facing the standardization of Korean Romanization, and drawing on data from two types of CMC on the Internet, apply the findings in identifying an appropriate standard system. Initially, I hypothesized that there would be a pattern favoring a phonetic system of Romanization in CMC.;Through a largely sociolinguistic methodological approach, supplemented with text analysis of CMC, phonological considerations and psycholinguistic experiments, I argue that despite inconsistencies that abound in the data analyzed, overall tendencies are evident which favor not a phonetic system, but a modified phonemic system. On the basis of the results, I propose a more natural system, the Shin system of Romanization. |
