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Korean language

Language spoken in Korea

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  • 15 chapters

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Through Korea, South Korea and Globalization

LabGlobalisation

Beyond Korea the language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China, namely Jilin, and specifically Yanbian Prefecture, and Changbai County. It is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin, the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia. The Jeju language of Jeju Island is closely related but not mutually intelligible with Korean. Together with a few extinct relatives they form the compact Koreanic language family. The linguistic homeland of Korean is suggested to be somewhere in modern Manchuria. The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to a system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation.

Modern Korean is written in the Korean script (한글; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), an alphabet system developed during the 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the mid 20th century. (Hanja and mixed script were the primary script until then.) The script uses 24 basic letters (jamo) and 27 complex letters formed from the basic ones.

Interest in Korean language acquisition (as a foreign language) has been generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since the end of World War II and the Korean War. Along with other languages such as the Chinese languages and Arabic, Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense.

History

Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean, which in turn descends from Old Korean, which descends from the Proto-Koreanic language, which is generally suggested to have its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria. Whitman (2012) suggests that the proto-Koreans, already present in northern Korea, expanded into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in around 300 BC and coexisted with the descendants of the Japonic Mumun cultivators (or assimilated them). Both had influence on each other and a later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families.

Since the establishment of two independent governments, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary chosen. While there tends to be strong political conflict between North and South Korea regarding these linguistic "differences", regional dialects within each country actually display greater linguistic variations than those found between North and South Korean standards. Nevertheless these dialects remain largely mutually intelligible.

Writing systems

The Chinese language, written with Chinese characters and read with Sino-Xenic pronunciations, was introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century. Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja) to write their own language, creating scripts known as idu, hyangchal, gugyeol and gakpil. These systems were cumbersome owing to the fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of the population was illiterate.

In the 15th century King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system, known today as Hangul, to promote literacy among the common people. Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum, it was called eonmun ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea.

The Korean alphabet was denounced by the yangban aristocracy, who looked down upon it for being too easy to learn. However it gained widespread use among the common class and was widely used to print popular novels, which were enjoyed by the common class. Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices written entirely in Hangul as early as the 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By the 17th century the yangban had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era.

In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century the Kabo Reform of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese. Some newspapers were published in Hangul, but other publications used Korean mixed script, with Hanja for Sino-Korean vocabulary and Hangul for other elements. North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949 but continues to teach it in schools. Its usage in South Korea is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies.

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