"Complaining as a Sociocultural Activity: Examining How and Why in Korean Interaction
details with precision and insight the intricate network of psychological, interactional, and linguistic features that underlie complaints in Korean. With data culled from a variety of naturally occurring oral and written discourse, including spontaneous conversation (face-to-face and telephonic), online reviews, blogs, and social media posts, Yoon synthesizes the robust and complex discursive patterns of complaining and puts forward a systematically thorough analysis of the interactional phenomenon. Most importantly, the book centers on Korean discourse and keenly elucidates such issues as social identity and membership in the multifaceted, spontaneous, and dialogic activity of complaining."
— Susan Strauss, The Pennsylvania State University
"Commendably written by an expert, this is the first book-length study that investigates the communicative act of complaining in Korean, using Conversational Analysis (CA). As a very welcome contribution to Korean linguistics, pragmatics, and interactional linguistics studies, it unfolds the complex interplay between grammar and social interaction in Korean cultural contexts. It will certainly serve as a valuable resource for Korean applied linguists and researchers and also as great supplementary reading for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Korean linguistics."
— Andrew Sangpil Byon, University at Albany, SUNY