General Information

Korean is the official language of North (20 mill. native speakers) and South Korea (42 mill.). It is also spoken in 31 other countries including American Samoa, Australia, Bahrain, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, China, Germany, Guam, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, North, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mongolia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands. Alternate names are Hanguohua or Hanguk Mal. The total number of Korean speakers amounts to ca. 80 mill.

There is a difference of opinion among scholars as to whether or not Korean is related to Japanese. Some scholars suggest that both languages are possibly distantly related to Altaic.

Hyun Jun uses the Gyeonggi or Seoul accent, i.e. the 'general' or formal Southern Korean accent.

Typological Details

Parameters

Speaker

Play a welcome message spoken by Hyun Jun Y.:

언어(너학) 강좌에 들어오신 모든 분을 환영합니다.

onohak gangzua e duro-o-shi-n modun bun-ul huanyongha-mni-da.

linguistics course to in-come-Polite-ATTR all one-ACC gladly receive-Polite-DECL

제이름은 _____ 이고 한국어를 씁니다.

ze irum-un Yim Hyun Jun i-go hangugo-rul ssu-mni-da.

My.Polite name-TH Yim Hyun Jun is-and Korean-ACC use-Polite-DECL

Morphology and Syntax

The examples below the strict head-modifier structure in Korean (i.e. the final position of the verb and the postposing of inflectional particles including postpositions).

그 책

g̊o̷̞ 'ʨʰɛg̊˺

the book

그 책 들

g̊o̷̞ 'ʨʰɛg̊˺ d̥ɯl

the book-PL

그 큰 책

g̊o̷̞ 'kɯn 'ʨʰɛg̊˺

the big-ATTR book

그 아주 큰 책

g̊o̷̞ aʥu 'kɯn 'ʨʰɛg̊˺

the very big-ATTR book

그 책 속에

g̊o̷̞ 'ʨʰɛg̊˺ so'g̊ɛ

the book inside-NOUN at-LOC

그 책 위에

g̊o̷̞ 'ʨʰɛg̊˺ wi'ɛ

the book upper-NOUN at-LOC

그 남자는 잔다

g̊o̷̞ namʥa'nɯn 'ʨʰanda

the man IND.THM sleep-PRES-DECL

그 여자는 잤다

g̊o̷̞ jɯza'nɯn ʦa'd̥a

the woman IND.THM sleep-PST-DECL

그 남자가 그 여자를 본다

g̊o̷̞ namʥa'ga g̊o̷̞ jɯza'ɾɯl b̥ʊn'd̥a

the man NOM the woman ACC see-PRES.DECL

그 여자가 그 남자를 보았을 때

g̊o̷̞ jɯza'ga g̊o̷̞ namʥa'ɾɯl 'b̥ɔasɯl 'd̥ɛ

the woman NOM the man ACC see-PST-ATTR time

그 남자가 그 여자에게 그 책을 준다

g̊o̷̞ namʥa'ga g̊o̷̞ jɔza'ɛgɛ g̊o̷̞ 'ʨʰɛg̊ɯl 'ʦʰʊn'd̥a

the man NOM the woman DAT the book ACC give-PRES-DECL

A Complex Passage

The speaker tells the story 'The Northwind and the Sun'.

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger,

baram gwa hennim-i  soro      him-i     do     seda-go                  datu-go

wind and sun-nom each other power-nom more be strong-(insisting,assuming) disput-ing

when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

iss-ul dde,     han nagune-ga  ddadduthan uetu-rul     ib-go  goro  o-ass-umnida.

be time(at), a traveler-NOM warm-ATTR overcoat-ACC wear-ing walking come-PST

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off

gu-dul(r)-un      nugu-dunji  nagune-ui uetu rul  monjo   bot-gi-nun        i   ga

the-Pl.(=they)-NOM who-ever traveler -GEN coat-ACC first-ADV take off-make -ATTR one NOM

should be considered stronger than the other. The North Wind

him-i        do       seda-go      ha-giro    gyoljongh-ess-umni-da.  bug-pung-un

power-NOM more be strong-assump. do-to(to do) decide-PST-Polite-DECL. North-Wind-NOM

blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler

himggot      bur-oss-una    bul-myon  bul-ssurog   nagune-nun  uetu-rul

with all power blow-PST-but blow-if blow-the more traveler-NOM coat-ACC

fold his cloak around him;and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out

dandanhi yomy-oss-umni-da. gu dde-e   hennim-i  ddugou-n  hetbich ul

closely fold-PST-Polite-DECL. the time-at sun-NOM hot-ATTR sunshine-ACC

warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

gamanhi  neryo-jjoe-ni,   nagune-nun  uetu rul  ollon     bos-oss-umni-da.

calmly down-shine-cause traveler-NOM coat-ACC immediatly wear off-PST-Polite-DECL

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

irihayo bugpung-un  hennim-i   dul  junge    him-i          do     seda-go

thus North Wind-NOM sun-NOM two between power-NOM more be strong-assump.

injonghaji anhul    su          obs-oss-umni-da.

approve not-ATTR way-NOM be not-PST-Polite-DECL

The Numbers

1

하나

hˠa'na

2

둘

d̥ɯl

3

셋

sˢɛʡ

4

넷

nɛʡ

5

다섯

ta'sʰɔd̥

6

여섯

jɔ'sɔd̥

7

일곱

'ilgo

8

여덟

'jɔd̥ɔl

9

아홉

'aho

10

열

jo̷̞l

In Korean one has to remember the numbers shown above (1 to 10) and multiples of ten up to 90.

All other numbers can be calculated:

• 11 = yolhana (10+1)
• 35 = soreundasot (30 + 5)
• etc.

Videos

Pictures

The King Sejong Statue, Seoul

The Inventor of the Hangul alphabet in 1444.

Writing System

Modern Korean is written entirely in hangeul, however academic papers and official documents tend to be written in a mixture of hangeul and hanja.

Notable features of Hangeul

• Type of writing system: alphabet
• Direction of writing: Until the 1980s Korean was usually written from right to left in vertical columns. Since then writing from left to right in horizontal lines has become popular, and today the majority of texts are written horizontally.
• Number of letter: 24 (jamo): 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The letters are combined together into syllable blocks.
  For example, Hangeul is written: 한(han) ᄒ(h) + ᅡ(a) + ᄂ(n) 글(geul) ᄀ(g) + ᅳ(eu) + ᄅ(l)
• The shapes of the the consontants g/k, n, s, m and ng are graphical representations of the speech organs used to pronounce them. Other consonsants were created by adding extra lines to the basic shapes.
• The shapes of the the vowels are based on three elements: man (a vertical line), earth (a horizontal line) and heaven (a dot). In modern Hangeul the heavenly dot has mutated into a short line.
• Spaces are placed between words, which can be made up of one or more syllables.
• The sounds of some consonants change depending on whether they appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a syllable.

(adapted from www.omniglot.com)

Contributors

Developmental Aspects of this VLC Language Index Entry:

• Native Language Assistance:
  • Jundze Chang (Pusan, Korea)
  • Tatjana Bollow (Online MA Student at Marburg University, Seoul, Korea)
• Auditory Judgements:
  • Tatjana Bollow (Online MA Student at Marburg University, Seoul, Korea)
• Phonetic Transcription:
  • Tatjana Bollow (Online MA Student at Marburg University, Seoul, Korea)
• References
  • Korean language: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language. (10.01.2012)
  • Korean dialects and accents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialects_of_Korean (20.01.2012)
  • IPA phonetic transcription for Korean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Korean (04.02.2012)
• Speaker: Hyun Jun Y. (Seoul, Korea)
• Recorded in January 2012 (outdoor, Seoul)