Language and Social Stratification: The Case of a Confucian Society.

This paper deals with the relationship between forms of language and social stratification. A distinction shall be made between 'open' systems of expressing status relationships by linguistic means, and ' bound' systenis of denoting status. The English language provides one of the best examples of an 'open' system of status denotation; the Korean language is presented as one of the strongest examples of a 'closed' system. A connection shall be drawn between differences in languages and differences in nature of social stratification in the two societies. European cultures provide examples intermediate between 'open' and 'bound' 1 systems, although on the whole closer to the former.