While racialization is commonly associated with perceived phenotypical differences, this article introduces the phenomenon of co-ethnic racialization via linguistic differentiation. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I consider the linguistic concerns of North Koreans in South Korea (t’albungmin). Despite South Korean state policy espousing an ideology of ethno-national unity, South Koreans are resistant to the social incorporation of certain diasporic Koreans, who are often identifiable through their accents. I argue that North Koreans’ linguistic anxieties and speech modifications are partly fuelled by a fear of being seen as inherently deficient, and that they adopt linguistic strategies, whether attempting to sound more “South Korean” or accepting their misidentification as Korean-Chinese, as a means of adapting to these implicit (yet shifting) racializing logics. This case not only highlights racialized hierarchies present among Korean co-ethnics but broadens our understandings of racialization by identifying linguistic practice as a site where co-ethnic racialization takes place.
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