Intro
- 78 million speakers
- 48 million (South Korea)
- 24 million (North Korea)
- 6 million (Japan, China, ex-USSR, USA, etc)
- language isolate (or Altaic with Turkic, Manchu-Tungus, Mongolian, Japanese)
- SOV language
- old info usually comes first
- style of speech depends on speaker's relationship to the hearer
Speech Styles
In the company, within family, at school
Juniors are expected to show deference and compliance to seniors and elders.
| Style | Hearer | verb ending |
|---|---|---|
| Intimate | younger | -어 |
| Polite | older | -어요 |
Hangul 한글
Hangul is a phonemic script invented in 1443 during the rule of King Sejong the Great 세종대왕 (世宗大王), fourth king of the Choson Dynasty 조선왕조 (朝鮮王朝 1392-1910)
It consists of 24 basic letters which extend to 40 when including compound letters.
| Letter | Name | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ(ㄲ) s (ss) | 기역 (쌍기역) kiyeok (ssang kiyeok) | g-, -k (gg-) |
| ㄴ n | 니은 nieun | n-, -n |
| ㄷ(ㄸ) d (dd) | 디글 (쌍디글) tigeul (ssang tiguel) | d-, -t |
| ㄹ r | 리을 | r-, -l-, -l |
| ㅁ | 미음 | m-, -m |
| ㅂ(ㅃ) | 비읍 (쌍비읍) | b-, -p (bb-) |
| ㅅ(ㅆ) | 시옷 (쌍시옷) | s-, -t (ss-, -t) |
| ㅇ | 이응 | -, -ng |
| ㅈ(ㅉ) | 지읒 | j-, -t |
| ㅊ | 치읓 | ch-, -t |
| ㅋ | 키읔 | k-, -t |
| ㅌ | 티읕 | t-, -t |
| ㅍ | 피읖 | p-, -t |
| ㅎ | 히읗 | h-, -h |
| ㅏ ah | ㅐey | ㅑ | ㅒ | ||||||
| ㅓ uh | ㅔeh | ㅕ | ㅖ | ||||||
| ㅗ oh | ㅘ | ㅙ | ㅚ | ㅛ | |||||
| ㅜ oo | ㅝ | ㅞ | ㅟ | ㅠ | |||||
| ㅡ erh | ㅢ | ||||||||
| ㅣ ee |
Sound Rules
words are written to reflect the base forms not pronunciation
Consonnant clusters: when there are two consonant endings:
ㄳ(ㅅㄱ), ㄶ(ㄴ),ㄱㅁ(ㅁ),ㄽ(ㅅ), ㄿ(ㅂ), ㅄ(ㅂ), ㄵ(ㄴ), ㄺ(ㄱ), ㄼ(ㅂ), ㄾ(ㄹ), ㅀ(ㄹ)
Resyllabification: ending consonant is pronounced at the beginning of the next block if open vowel
독일 (도길) germany dog-il do-gil, 언어 (어너) language eon-eo eo-neo, 신인 (시닌) newcomer sin-in si-nin
Particles:
한국이(한구기) han-gug-i han-gu-gi, 물을(무를) mul-eul mu-leul, 약이에요(야기에요) yag-i-e-yo ya-gi-e-yo, 입어서(이버서) ib-eo-seo i-beo-seo, 입으면(이브면) ib-eu-myeon i-beu-myeon
Nasal assimilation: when ending consonant followed by leading consonant
ㅋ,ㄱ,ㄲ becomes ㅇ: 국물(궁물)
ㅌ, ㄷ, ㄸ becomes ㄴ: 받는다(반는다)
ㅍ, ㅂ, ㅃ becomes ㅁ: 돕는다(돔는다)
ㄴ+ㄹ, ㄹ+ㄴ becomes ㄹ+ㄹ
ㅎ reduction: not pronounced when block ending before vowel
좋아요(조아요)
많아요(마나요)
Hanja 한자 (漢子)
Hanja are Chinese logographic characters limited to newspapers and academic publications in South Korea. The 한한대사전 (漢韓大辭典) contains 53,667 hanja.
Tags: korean
