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Korean: its origin and system

Hyug Ahn

Han-Gul: the Great Writing

Prior to the introduction of Hangul, Koreans

wrote in Chinese or Idu, Chinese characters

that represented different Korean sounds.

King Sejong (Choseon Dynasty) wanted to

improve literacy in Korea. Therefore, he

sought to develop an easy-to-learn system for

writing with the help of the scholars of Jip-

Hyun-Jeon.

Hun-Min-Jeong-Eum (The Correct

Sounds to Instruct the People)

Hun-Min-Jeong-Eum

was invented in 1443

with 11 vowels

(mother-sounds) and

17 consonants (son-

sounds) and was

introduced to the

public in 1446.

Hangul - the most recently

developed letters of mankind.

World Heritage and HMJE is one of the

Memories of the World by UNESCO

The number of Korean speakers in the

world: 45M (S.Korea)+23M

(N.Korea)+1.9M (China)+1.5M

(USA)+0.7M (Japan)+0.45M (former

Soviet Union) = 72.55M users.

Design of Hangul Alphabet

Words are written by syllable -

Beginning Sound (C)+Middle Sound

(V)+Final Sound (C)

Easy to use with Chinese letters -writing in a square: , ,

Vowels - 3 basic components of the

universe: Heaven, Earth, and Man

( ) - • ( ), ( ), | ( )

A vowel must be used with a consonant(Yin-yan). Ex. [a] is written (a

soundless consonant with a vowel [a])

Vowel letters are combinations of these

three elements. Ex: ‘l •’ [a], ‘• l’ [å].

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VowelsSimple vowels (8):

Diphthongs (13):

[a]: spread • [ ] as in camera[å]: spread as in ago

[o]: contracted • as in over[u]: contracted as in moon

[ï]: uuh [i]: bee [ä]: air [e]: every

Vowels 2Sounds of diphthongs

uuh[ïi]( + )

we[ü]( + )yellow[je]( + )

way[ö]( + )yes[jä]( + )

well[we]( + )you[ju]( + )

war[w ]( + )yo[jo]( + )

weight[wä]( + )young[jå]( + )

Hawaii[wa]( + )yahoo[ja]( + )

Consonants - 5 elements of the

universe (Chinese Cosmogony)

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water

WooNorthWaterThroat,

GungCenterEarthLips

SangWestMetalIncisor

ChiSouthFireTongue,

GakEastWoodMolar

Soft Consonants

Hard Consonants

[r, l]Liquid

[n] [m] [ng]Nasal

[pp][ph][p]stoplabials

[cc][ch][c]affricate

[ss][s]fricative

[tt][th][t]stopalveo-

dentals

[h]glottal

fricative

[kk][kh][k]stopvelars

tensedapiratedplain (lax)

Consonants - , , : the shape of the tongue root

: k/g (key/gate)

Add a stroke or copy

letter to express

different sound feature

: aspirated (Korea)

: tensed (skip)

Consonants - , , , : the shape of the tongue body

: n (noon)

: plain C, t/d

(take/dog)

: aspirated (tall)

: tensed (stop)

3

Consonants - , , , , : the shape of the tooth

: s (smile)

: tensed (sip)

: j/ch (joy/champ)

: aspirated (tall)

: tensed (stop)

Consonants - , , , : the shape of the lips

: m (moon)

: b/p (pole/boy)

: aspirated (pin)

: tensed (spy)

Consonants - , : the shape of the glottis

: [ng] (song)

soundless in syllable

initial position.

: aspirated

(home)

Names of Consonants

Double consonant: ex) ssang-giyeok

hieut siot

pieup bieup

tieut mieum

kieuk rieul

chieut digeut

jieut nieun

ieung giyeok

Syllabic Structure 1

CV1) Vertical V: CV - , ,

2) Horizontal V: C - , ,

V3) Horizontal V: CV - , ,

V

Syllabic Structure 2

CVC1) with horizontal vowels ( , , )

, , , 2) with vertical vowels ( , , , ,

, , , , ) , ,

3) with diphthongs such as , , ,

, , , : , ,

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Writing Exercise!

Please write your name in Korean!Andy [ändi] -

Elizabeth [èlizabe ] -

Write the following words in Korean!

UNC [juènsi]

computer

icecream

Internet

Pronunciation characteristics

Sound variations according to their positions1) liquid : [r] in syllabic initial: ,

[l] in syllabic final: ,

2) : ∅ in syllabic initial: ,

[ng] in syllabic final: ,

3) , , [k] in syllabic final

4) , , [p] in syllabic final

5) , , , , , , [t] in syllabic final

When two consonants collide,

Liaison : - , -

Tensing: If a syllable ends inconsonants , , [k], , [p], ,

, , , , [t] and the next syllable

begins with , , , , , these

syllable initial consonants become ,, , , . - [ ]

Nasalization: If a syllable ends in consonants, , [k], , [p], , , , , ,

[t] and the next syllable begins with , ,

the previous consonants [k] ], [p] m],

[t] n].

], ],

]

Lateralization: When meets ,

becomes . [ ]

Aspiration: When meets , , , ,

these consonants become aspirated ( , ,

, ). ], ].

Grammatical features

Case markers are attached to nouns.

Basic word order: Verb is at sentence final.S+V ( ) S+O+V ( )

Category of Honorifics:1) Lexical items: - , vs. , vs. 2) Complicated verb paradigms: 14 basicverb stems of ‘do’http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language#Grammar

Differences between North and

South Koreans

Pronunciation, spelling, grammar, andvocabulary are different in N. and S.Koreas.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language#Grammar

Different language policy. [eol-eum-bo-sung-i] vs.

[ais krim] [da-ri-me] vs. [gak-seon-mi]

[ho-sang] vs. [sang-ho] [t-rak-to-r] vs. [t-raek-te]