Joseonjok (Korean‐Chinese) as an Internal Normative Center: Perceptions of Linguistic Ownership Among Chinese Learners of Korean

ABSTRACT While existing research on Korean as a foreign language (KFL) has increasingly focused on learner motivation, KFL learners’ linguistic ownership remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining how Han Chinese learners of Korean perceive and negotiate their linguistic ownership in relation to the perceived linguistic capital of Joseonjok (Korean‐Chinese) in China. Using Q methodology to capture the perspectives of 14 Han Chinese Korean language majors at a major Chinese university in Shanghai, the analysis reveals a shared recognition of the value of Korean teachers’ standard accents and Joseonjok's advantages in China's job market. The Han Chinese participants displayed three distinct orientations: ownership pressure vis‐à‐vis Joseonjok, ownership assertion of the self, and ownership cession to Korean norms. The findings demonstrate that, while linguistic “hierarchies of prestige” in Korean persist, linguistic instrumentalism recalibrates the value of Joseonjok's heritage language capital in China, thereby shifting struggles over ownership from transnational identity politics to localized competition. This study extends discussions on linguistic ownership beyond English‐dominant contexts and offers pedagogical implications for KFL education.