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Korean language
This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language. language isolate. It is agglutinative in its morphology
See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing and SOV in its syntax.
system.
Korean
Names
???, ???
Hangugeo, Chosŏnmal
Total 78 million[1]
speakers
Ranking 18
The map showing usage of Korean language in the world
Language language isolate or Altaic (controversial)
family
The Korean names for the language are based on the
Writing Exclusive use of Hangul (Both Korea), mix of names for Korea used in North and South Korea.
system Hangul and hanja (some professional scripts in In South Korea, the language is most often called
S. Korea), or Cyrillic alphabet (lesser used in
Hangungmal (???; ???), or more formally, Hangugeo (???; ?
Goryeomal)
??) or Gugeo (??; ??; literally "national language").
Official status In North Korea and Yanbian in China, the language is
Official most often called Chosŏnmal (???; with hanja: ???), or
North Korea
language more formally, Chosŏnŏ (???; ???).
South Korea
in On the other hand, Korean people in the former
Yanbian ( People’s Republic of China) USSR, who refer to themselves as Koryo-saram (also
United States (minority and auxiliary) Goryeoin [???; ???; literally, "Goryeo person(s)"]) call the
Regulated South Korea: language Goryeomal (???; ???).
by The National Institute of the Korean Language In mainland China, following the establishment of
????? diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term
North Korea: Cháoxiǎnyǔ (??? or short form: Cháoyǔ (??)) has normally
Sahoe Kwahagwon Ŏhak Yŏnguso
????? ????? been used to refer to the language spoken in North
Korea and Yanbian, while Hánguóyǔ (??? or short form:
Language codes Hányǔ (??)) is used to refer to the language spoken in
ISO 639-1 ko South Korea.
Some older English sources also used the name
ISO 639-2 kor "Korean" to refer to the language, country, and people.
ISO 639-3 kor
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
Monophthongs /i/ ?, /e/ ?, /ɛ/ ?, /a/ ?, /o/ ?, /u/ ?, /ʌ/ ?, /ɯ/ ?, /ø/ ?
Vowels preceded by intermediar- /je/ ?, /jɛ/ ?, /ja/ ?, /wi/ ?, /we/ ?, /wɛ/ ?, /wa/ ?, /ɰi/ ?, /jo/ ?, /ju/ ?, /jʌ/ ?,
ies, /wʌ/ ?
or Diphthongs
Allophones
/s/ becomes an alveolo-palatal [ɕ] before [j] or [i] for
most speakers (but see Differences in the language
between North Korea and South Korea). This occurs with
the tense fricative and all the affricates as well. At the
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
Korean particles
After a consonant After a rieul After a vowel
-ui (-?)
-eun (-?) -neun (-?)
-i (-?) -ga (-?)
-eul (-?) -reul (-?)
-gwa (-?) -wa (-?)
-euro (-??) -ro (-?)
Morphophonemics
Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending
on the preceding sounds. Examples include -eun/-neun (-
?/-?) and -i/-ga (-?/-?). Sometimes sounds may be inser-
The Korean consonants ted instead. Examples include -eul/-reul (-?/-?), -euro/-ro
(-??/-?), -eseo/-seo (-??/-?), -ideunji/-deunji (-???/-??) and
-iya/-ya (-??/-?). However, -euro/-ro is somewhat irregu-
end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (Example: beoseot (?
lar, since it will behave differently after a rieul
?) ’mushroom’).
consonant.
/h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u], a pal-
Some verbs may also change shape
atal [ç] before [j] or [i], a velar [x] before [ɯ], a voiced [ɦ]
morphophonemically.
between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere.
/p, t, ʨ, k/ become voiced [b, d, ʥ, ɡ] between voiced
sounds. Grammar
/l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l]
or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/. Note Sentence structure
that a written syllable-final ’?’, when followed by a vow-
Korean is an agglutinative language. Modifiers generally
el or a glide (i.e., when the next character starts with ’?’),
precede the modified words, and in the case of verb
migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ].
modifiers, can be serially appended. The basic form of a
Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of
Korean sentence is Subject Object Verb, but the verb is
a word. It disappeared before [j], and otherwise became
the only required and immovable element.
/n/. However, the inflow of western loanword changed
the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English A: ??-? ??-?? (?????)
loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either kage-e kasseo-yo
[ɾ] or [l]. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /l/
became a morphological rule called "initial law" (????) in
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
B: ?. Noun
ye A large body of Korean nouns (??, myeongsa, ??) stem
from Chinese characters, e.g. ? (?, san, mountain), ? (?,
yes yeok, station), ?? (??, munhwa, culture), etc. Others are
"Yes." native to the Korean language, e.g. ?? (nara, country), ?
(nal, day). Many Sino-Korean words have a native
Parts of speech Korean equivalent and vice versa, but not always. Nouns
do not have grammatical gender and can be made plural
Verb by adding ? to the end of the word, however in most in-
Korean verbs (??, tongsa, ??) are also known in English as stances the singular form is used even when in English it
"action verbs" or "dynamic verbs" to distinguish them would be translated as plural. For example, while in Eng-
from [???(???), hyeong-yongsa, "adjectives"]), which are lish the sentence "there are three apples" would use the
also known as "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs". plural "apples" instead of the singular "apple", the Korean
Examples of action/dynamic verbs include ?? (hada, "to sentence ?? ?? ???? (sagwa segae isssumnida) maintains
do") and ?? (kada, "to go") which constitute an action or the word ?? (sagwa, "apple") in its singular form, thus
movement as opposed to descriptive verbs such as ??? rendered in English as "apple three(things) exist." For a
(yehppeuda, "to be beautiful"). For a larger list of Korean list of Korean nouns, see wikt:Category:Korean nouns.
verbs, see wikt:Category:Korean verbs.
Unlike most of the European languages, Korean does Pronoun
not conjugate verbs using agreement with the subject, Korean pronouns (???, daemyeongsa, ???) are highly in-
and nouns have no gender. Instead, verb conjugations fluenced by the honorifics in the language. Pronouns
depend upon the verb tense, aspect, mood, and the so- change forms depending on the social status of the per-
cial relation between the speaker, the subjects, and the son or persons spoken to, e.g. the pronoun for "I" there
listeners. The system of speech levels and honorifics is both the informal ? (na) and the honorific/humble ?
loosely resembles the T-V distinction of most Indo- (jeo). In general second person singular pronouns are
European languages. For example, different endings are avoided, especially when using honorific forms. For a
used based on the speaker’s relation with the person larger list or Korean pronouns, see wikt:Category:Korean
they are talking to or the person about whom they are pronouns.
talking. Politeness is a critical part of Korean language
and Korean culture, therefore, when talking to someone Adverb
esteemed, the correct verb ending, which should indic- Korean adverbs (??, busa, ??) include ? (tto, "also") and ??
ate a lot of respect, must be chosen. (gadeuk, "fully"). For a larger list, see
wikt:Category:Korean adverbs.
Adjective
Words categorized as Korean adjectives (???, hyeong- Particle
yongsa, ???) conjugate similarly to verbs, so some English Korean particles (??, josa, ??) are also known in English
texts call them "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs", as "postpositions". Examples include ? (neun, topic
but they are distinctly separate from ?? (tongsa). marker) and ? (reul, object marker). For a larger list, see
English does not have an identical grammatical cat- wikt:Category:Korean particles.
egory, so the English translation of Korean adjectives
may misleadingly suggest that they are verbs. For ex- Interjection
ample, ?? (pukda) translates literally as "to be red" and ? Korean interjections (???, gamtansa, ???) are also known
?? (aswipda) often best translates as "to lack" or "to want in English as "exclamations". Examples include ?? (ani,
for", but both are ??? (hyeong-yongsa, "adjectives"). For a "no"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean
larger list of Korean adjectives, see interjections.
wikt:Category:Korean adjectives.
Number
Korean numbers or numerals (??, susa, ??) constitute two
regularly used sets: a native Korean set and a Sino-
5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
Korean set. The Sino-Korean system is nearly entirely especially words that denote abstract ideas, are Sino-
based on the Chinese numerals. The distinction between Korean words,[13] either
the two numeral systems is very important. Everything • directly borrowed from Written Chinese, or
that can be counted will use one of the two systems, but • coined in Japan or Korea using Chinese characters,
seldom both. Sino-Korean words are sometimes used to in a similar way European languages borrow from Latin
mark ordinal usage: yeol beon (? ?) means "ten times" and Greek. Korean has two number systems: one native,
while sip beon (?(?) ?(?)) means "number ten." The and one borrowed from Chinese.
grouping of large numbers in Korean follow the Chinese To a much lesser extent, words have also occasion-
tradition of myriads (10000) rather than thousands ally been borrowed from Mongolian, Sanskrit, and other
(1000) as is common in Europe and North America. languages. Conversely, the Korean language itself has
also contributed some loanwords to other languages,
Speech levels and honorifics most notably the Tsushima dialect of Japanese.
The vast majority of loanwords other than Sino-
The relationship between a speaker or writer and his or Korean come from modern times, 90% of which are from
her subject and audience is paramount in Korean, and English.[14] Many words have also been borrowed from
the grammar reflects this. The relationship between Japanese and Western languages such as German
speaker/writer and subject referent is reflected in hon- (areubaiteu ‘part-time job’, allereugi ‘allergy’). Some
orifics, while that between speaker/writer and audience Western words were borrowed indirectly via Japanese,
is reflected in speech level. taking a Japanese sound pattern, for example ‘dozen’ > ?
?? dāsu > ?? daseu. Most indirect Western borrowings are
Honorifics now written according to current Hangulization rules
When talking about someone superior in status, a speak- for the respective Western language, as if borrowed dir-
er or writer usually uses special nouns or verb endings ectly. There are a few more complicated borrowings
to indicate the subject’s superiority. Generally, someone such as ‘German(y)’ (see Names for Germany), the first
is superior in status if he/she is an older relative, a part of whose endonym [ˈd̥ɔɪ̯ʧʷ.la̠ntʰ] the Japanese ap-
stranger of roughly equal or greater age, or an employ- proximated using the kanji ?? doitsu that were then ac-
er, teacher, customer, or the like. Someone is equal or cepted into the Korean language by their Sino-Korean
inferior in status if he/she is a younger stranger, stu- pronunciation: ? dok + ? il = Dogil. In South Korean official
dent, employee or the like. Nowadays, there are special use, a number of other Sino-Korean country names have
endings which can be used on declarative, interrogative, been replaced with phonetically oriented Hangulizations
and imperative sentences; and both honorific or normal of the countries’ endonyms or English names.
sentences. They are made for easier and faster use of North Korean vocabulary shows a tendency to prefer
Korean. native Korean over Sino-Korean or foreign borrowings,
especially with recent political objectives aimed at elim-
Speech levels inating foreign (mostly Chinese) influences on the
Korean language in the North. By contrast, South Korean
There are seven verb paradigms or speech levels in
may have several Sino-Korean or foreign borrowings
Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb
which tend to be absent in North Korean.
endings which are used to indicate the level of formality
of a situation. Unlike honorifics — which are used to
show respect towards the referent — speech levels are Writing system
used to show respect towards a speaker’s or writer’s
audience. The names of the 7 levels are derived from the Korean writing systems
non-honorific imperative form of the verb ?? (hada, Hangul
"do") in each level, plus the suffix ? (’che’, hanja: ?), Hanja
which means "style." • Hyangchal
• Gugyeol
The highest 6 levels are generally grouped together
• Idu
as jondaenmal (???), while the lowest level (haeche, ??) is Mixed script
called banmal (??) in Korean. Korean romanization
• Revised Romanization of Korean
• McCune-Reischauer
Vocabulary • Yale Romanization
The core of the Korean vocabulary is made up of native
Korean words. Like Japanese and Vietnamese, more than See also: Hangul consonant and vowel tables
50% of the vocabulary (up to 60% by some estimates), In ancient times, the languages of the Korean peninsula
were written using Chinese characters, using hyangchal
or idu. Such systems were not popular because hanja is
6
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
Consonants
Hangul ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RR b,p d,t j g,k pp tt jj kk p t ch k s h ss m n ng r,l
IPA p t ʨ k p͈ t͈ ʨ͈ k͈ pʰ tʰ ʨʰ kʰ s h s͈ m n ŋ w r j
Vowels
Hangul ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RR i e oe ae a o u eo eu ui ye yae ya yo yu yeo wi we wae wa wo
IPA i e ø ɛ a o u ʌ ɯ ɰi je jɛ ja jo ju jʌ wi we wɛ wa wʌ
not well suited to the Korean language. Its use is now Words that are written the same way may be pro-
limited. nounced differently, such as the examples below. The
Korean is now mainly written in Hangul, the Korean pronunciations below are given in Revised Romaniza-
alphabet promulgated in 1446 by Sejong the Great; hanja tion, McCune-Reischauer and Hangul, the last of which
may be mixed in to write Sino-Korean words. South represents what the Hangul would be if one writes the
Korea still teaches 1800 hanja characters in its schools, word as pronounced.
while the North abolished the use of hanja decades ago. * Similar pronunciation is used in the North whenever
Below is a chart of the Korean alphabet’s symbols the hanja "?" is attached to a Sino-Korean word ending
and their canonical IPA values: in ?, ? or ?. (In the South, this rule only applies when it is
Modern Korean is written with spaces between words, a attached to any single-character Sino-Korean word.)
feature not found in Chinese or Japanese. Korean punc-
tuation marks are almost identical to Western ones. Tra- Spelling
ditionally, Korean was written in columns from top to Some words are spelled differently by the North and the
bottom, right to left, but is now usually written in rows South, but the pronunciations are the same.
from left to right, top to bottom.
Spelling and pronunciation
Differences between North Some words have different spellings and pronunciations
in the North and the South, some of which were given in
Korean and South Korean the "Phonology" section above:
The Korean language used in the North and the South In general, when transcribing place names, North Korea
exhibits differences in pronunciation, spelling, grammar tends to use the pronunciation in the original language
and vocabulary.[15] more than South Korea, which often uses the pronunci-
ation in English. For example:
Pronunciation
In North Korea, palatalization of /si/ is optional, and Grammar
/ʨ/ can be pronounced as [z] in between vowels. Some grammatical constructions are also different:
7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
Original name North Korea transliteration English name South Korea transliteration
Spelling Pronunciation Spelling Pronunciaton
Ulaanbaatar ????? ullanbattareu (ullanbattarŭ) Ulan Bator ????? ullanbatoreu (ullanbat’orŭ)
København ???? koeppenhabeun (k’oeppenhabŭn) Copenhagen ???? kopenhagen (k’op’enhagen)
al-Qāhirah ??? kkahira (kkahira) Cairo ??? kairo (k’airo)
8
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
9
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Korean language
[7] eg Martin 1966, 1990 • Martin, Samuel E. (1966): Lexical Evidence Relating
[8] eg Miller 1971, 1996 Japanese to Korean. Language 42/2: 185-251.
[9] Sergei Starostin. Altaiskaya problema i proishozhdeniye • Martin, Samuel E. (1990): Morphological clues to the
yaponskogo yazika (The Altaic Problem and the Origins relationship of Japanese and Korean. In: Philip Baldi
of the Japanese Language). http://www.alib.ru/ (ed.): Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology.
Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 45:
findp.php4?author=%D1%F2%E0%F0%EE%F1%F2%E8%ED&title=%C0%EB%F2%E0%E9%F1%EA%E0%FF+%EF%F0%EE%E1%EB%E5%EC%E0+%E8
[10] Vovin 2008 483-509.
[11] Whitman 1985: 232, also found in Martin 1966: 233 • Miller, Roy Andrew (1971): Japanese and the Other
[12] Vovin 2008: 211-212 Altaic Languages. Chicago: University of Chicago
[13] Sohn, Ho-Min. The Korean Language (Section 1.5.3 Press. ISBN 0226527190.
"Korean vocabulary", p.12-13), Cambridge • Miller, Roy Andrew (1996): Languages and History:
University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521369436 Japanese, Korean and Altaic. Oslo: Institute for
[14] Sohn, Ho-Min. The Korean Language (Section 1.5.3 Comparative Research in Human Culture. ISBN
"Korean vocabulary", p.12-13), Cambridge 9748299694.
University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521369436 • Ramstedt, G. J. (1928): Remarks on the Korean
[15] Kanno, Hiroomi (ed.) / Society for Korean language. Mémoires de la Société Finno-Oigrienne
Linguistics in Japan (1987). Chōsengo o manabō (???? 58.
?????), Sanshūsha, Tokyo. ISBN 4-384-01506-2 • Rybatzki, Volker (2003): Middle Mongol. In: Juha
[16] Raugh, Harold E.. "The Origins of the Transformation of Janhunen (ed.) (2003): The Mongolic languages.
the Defense Language Program". Applied Language London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1133-3: 47–82.
Learning 16 (2): 1–12. http://www.dliflc.edu/academics/ • Starostin, Sergei A.; Anna V. Dybo; Oleg A. Mudrak
academic_materials/all/ALLissues/all16two.pdf. (2003): Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages, 3
Retrieved on 2008-01-09. volumes. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN
[17] Lee, Saekyun H.; HyunJoo Han. "Issues of Validity of SAT 9004131531.
Subject Test Korea with Listening". Applied Language • Sohn, H.-M. (1999): The Korean Language. Cambridge:
Learning 17 (1): 33–56. http://www.dliflc.edu/academics/ Cambridge University Press.
academic_materials/all/ALLissues/ALL17.pdf. • Song, J.-J. (2005): The Korean Language: Structure, Use
[18] Fujita-Round, Sachiyo; John C. Maher (2007). "Language and Context. London: Routledge.
Education Policy in Japan". Language policy and political • Trask, R. L. (1996): Historical linguistics. Hodder
issues in education. United States: Springer. pp. 393–404. Arnold.
ISBN 978-0-387-32875-1. • Vovin, Alexander: Koreo-Japonica. University of
[19] "Korea Marks 558th Hangul Day". The Chosun Ilbo. Hawai’i Press.
2004-10-10. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/ • Whitman, John B. (1985): The Phonological Basis for the
news/200410/200410100002.html. Retrieved on Comparison of Japanese and Korean. Unpublished
2008-01-09. Harvard University Ph.D. dissertation.
Categories: Korean writing system, Agglutinative languages, Language isolates, Buyeo languages, Korean language,
Languages of China, Languages of Korea, Languages of North Korea, Languages of South Korea
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