Korean 한국어, 조선말 Hangugeo, Chosŏnmal
Spoken in:	South Korea, North Korea
Total speakers:	78 million[1]
Ranking:	15
Language family:	Unclassified: perhaps an Altaic language or a language isolate
Writing system:	Exclusive use of Hangul (N. & S. Korea), mix of Hangul and Hanja (S. Korea), or Cyrillic alphabet (lesser used in Goryeomal)
Official status
Official language in:	North Korea  South Korea
Regulated by:	S. Korea: Gungnip-gugeowon (National Institute of Korean Language; 국립국어원) N. Korea: Sahoe Kwahagwŏn Ŏhak Yŏnguso (사회 과학원 어학 연구소)
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	ko
ISO 639-2:	kor
ISO 639-3:	kor
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language. See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system.

Korean (한국어/조선말, see below) is the official language of both North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 80 million Korean speakers, with large groups in various Post-Soviet states, as well as in other diaspora populations in China, Australia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and more recently, the Philippines. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... Altaic is a proposed language family that includes 66 languages [1] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia. ... A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... Jamo redirects here. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is actually a family of alphabets, subsets of which are used by certain Slavic languages — Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—as well as many other languages of the former Soviet Union... Koryo-mar (Hangul: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар; Standard Korean: 중앙아시아한국어, literally Central Asia Korean language) is the dialect of the Korean language spoken by the Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans in the former USSR. It is descended from the North Hamgyong dialect of Korean. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_North_Korea. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Korea. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Jamo redirects here. ... Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Korean: ì—°ë³€ 조선족 자치주 Yeonbyeon Joseonjok Jachiju) is an autonomous prefecture in Jilin province, in the northeastern part of China. ... Post-Soviet states in alphabetical order: 1. ...

The genealogical classification of the Korean language is debated. Some linguists place it in the Altaic language family, while others consider it to be a language isolate. It is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax. Like the Japanese and Vietnamese languages, Korean language was influenced by the Chinese language in the form of Sino-Korean words. Native Korean words account for about 35% of the Korean vocabulary, while about 60% of the Korean vocabulary consists of Sino-Korean words. The remaining 5% comes from loan words from other languages, 90% of which are from English.^[2] Altaic is a proposed language family that includes 66 languages [1] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia. ... A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... It has been suggested that Agglutination be merged into this article or section. ... In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... Sino-Korean describes those elements of the Korean language that come directly or indirectly from Chinese — namely, Hanja and the words formed from them. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Names

The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in North and South Korea. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

In North Korea and Yanbian in China, the language is most often called Chosŏnmal (조선말; with Hanja: 朝鮮말), or more formally, Chosŏnŏ (조선어; 朝鮮語). Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ...

In the Republic of Korea, the language is most often called Hangukmal (한국말; 韓國말), or more formally, Hangugeo (한국어; 韓國語) or Gugeo (국어; 國語; literally "national language"). It is sometimes colloquially called Urimal ("our language"; 우리말 in one word in South Korea, 우리 말 with a space in North Korea).

On the other hand, Korean people in the former USSR, who refer to themselves as Koryo-saram (also Goryeoin [고려인; 高麗人; literally, "Goryeo person(s)"]) call the language Goryeomal (고려말; 高麗말). Post-Soviet states in alphabetical order: 1. ... Languages Russian, Koryo-mar Religions Orthodox Christianity, Protestantism, Buddhism, others[2] Related ethnic groups Koreans, Sakhalin Koreans Koryo-saram (Russian: Корё сарам; Koryo-mar: 고려사람) is the name which ethnic Koreans in the Post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Koryo-mar (Hangul: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар; Standard Korean: 중앙아시아한국어, literally Central Asian Korean language) is the dialect of the Korean language spoken by the Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans in the former USSR. It is descended from the Hamgyŏng dialect. ...

Classification

The classification of the modern Korean language is uncertain, and due to the lack of any one generally accepted theory, it is sometimes described conservatively as a language isolate. A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ...

Since the publication of the article of Ramstedt in 1926, many linguists support the hypothesis that Korean can be classified as an Altaic language, or as a relative of proto-Altaic. Korean is similar to Altaic languages in that they both lack certain grammatical elements, including number, gender, articles, fusional morphology, voice, and relative pronouns (Kim Namkil). Korean especially bears some morphological resemblance to some languages of the Eastern Turkic group, namely Sakha (Yakut). Vinokurova, a scholar of the Sakha language, noted that like in Korean, and unlike in other Turkic languages or a variety of other languages surveyed, adverbs in Sakha are derived from verbs with the help of derivational morphology; however, she did not suggest this implied any relation between the two languages.^[3] Gustaf John Ramstedt (1873-1950) was a Finnish linguist who worked as professor extraordinarius in Altaic languages at the University of Helsinki. ... Altaic is a proposed language family that includes 66 languages [1] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia. ... In linguistics, grammatical number is a morphological category characterized by the expression of quantity through inflection or agreement. ... In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ... An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. ... A poprelative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. ... For other uses, see Morphology. ... Sakha, or Yakut, is a Turkic language with around 363,000 speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation. ... The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family. ...

It is also considered likely that Korean is related in some way to Japanese, since the two languages have a similar grammatical structure. Genetic relationships have been postulated both directly and indirectly, the latter either through placing both languages in the Altaic family, or by arguing for a relationship between Japanese and the Buyeo languages of Goguryeo and Baekje (see below); the proposed Baekje relationship is supported additionally by phonological similarities such as the general lack of consonant-final sounds, and by cognates such as Baekje mir, Japanese mi- "three".^[4] Furthermore, there are known cultural links between Baekje and Japan; historical evidence shows that, in addition to playing a large role in the founding and growth of Yamato Japan, many of the Baekje upper classes, as well as the artisans and merchants, fled to Japan when the kingdom fell (a theory which appeared to be endorsed by Japanese Emperor Akihito in a speech marking his 68th birthday).^[5] The Buyeo (Puyŏ) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje and the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. ... The Goguryeo language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (37 BC – AD 668), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... Baekje (October 18 BC – August AD 660) was a kingdom in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... For Prince Komatsu, see Prince Komatsu Akihito. ...

Others argue, however, that the similarities are not due to any genetic relationship, but rather to a sprachbund effect. See East Asian languages for morphological features shared among languages of the East Asian sprachbund, and Japanese language classification for further details on the possible relationship. A Sprachbund (German for language bond, also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area) is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity. ... East Asian languages or the East Asian sprachbund describe two notional groupings of languages in East and Southeast Asia, either (1) languages which have been greatly influenced by Classical Chinese, or the CJKV Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese) area or (2) a larger grouping including the CJKV area as well... The classification of the Japanese language is uncertain and disputed. ...

Of the ancient languages attested in the Korean Peninsula, modern Korean is believed to be a descendent of the languages of Samhan and Silla; it is unknown whether these are related to the Buyeo languages, though many Korean scholars believe they were mutually intelligible, and the collective basis of what in the Goryeo period would merge to become Middle Korean (the language before the changes that the Seven-Year War brought) and eventually Modern Korean. The Jeju dialect preserves some archaic features that can also be found in Middle Korean, whose arae a is retained in the dialect as a distinct vowel. During the Samhan period, the three confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan dominated the southern portion of the Korean peninsula. ... Silla (also spelled Shilla, traditional dates 57 BCE - 935 CE) was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... Taegeuk is a traditional symbol of Korea Capital Gaegyeong Language(s) Korean Religion Buddhism Government Monarchy Wang  - 918 - 946 Taejo  - 949 - 975 Gwangjong  - 1259 - 1274 Wonjong  - 1351 - 1374 Gongmin Historical era 918 - 1392  - Later Three Kingdoms rise 892  - Coronation of Taejo June 15, 918  - Korea-Khitan Wars 993 - 1019  - Mongolian... Combatants Joseon Dynasty Korea, Ming Dynasty China Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi Commanders Korea: Yi Sun-sin, Gwon Yul, Won Gyun, Kim Myung Won, Yi Il, Sin Lip, Gwak Jae-u, Kim Shi-min China: Li Rusong , Li Rubai, Ma Gui , Qian Shi-zhen, Ren Ziqiang, Yang Yuan, Zhang Shijue, Chen... Jeju dialect is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in Korea, with the exception of Chuja. ...

There are also fringe theories proposing various other relationships; for example, a few linguists such as Homer B. Hulbert have also tried to relate Korean to the Dravidian languages through the similar syntax in both.^[6] For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ...

Dialects

Main article: Korean dialects

Dialects of Korean

Korean has several dialects (called mal [literally "speech"], saturi, or bang-eon in Korean). The standard language (pyojuneo or pyojunmal) of South Korea is based on the dialect of the area around Seoul, and the standard for North Korea is based on the dialect spoken around P'yŏngyang. These dialects are similar, and are in fact all mutually intelligible, perhaps with the exception of the dialect of Jeju Island (see Jeju Dialect). The dialect spoken in Jeju is in fact classified as a different language by some Korean linguists. One of the most notable differences between dialects is the use of stress: speakers of Seoul dialect use stress very little, and standard South Korean has a very flat intonation; on the other hand, speakers of the Gyeongsang dialect have a very pronounced intonation. Different dialects calling dragonfly (잠자리). Dialects of Korean Korean is spoken in a number of different dialects around the Korean peninsula. ... Image File history File links Koreandialects. ... Image File history File links Koreandialects. ... For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. ... Short name Statistics Location map Map of location of Seoul. ... Not to be confused with PyeongChang. ... Jeju is the smallest province of South Korea, situated on its largest island. ... Jeju dialect is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in Korea, with the exception of Chuja. ... Jeju dialect is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in Korea, with the exception of Chuja. ... The Seoul dialect is the basis of the standard dialect of Korean in South Korea. ... The Gyeongsang dialect is a dialect of the Korean language which is widely used in the Yeongnam region, which includes North and South Gyeongsang provinces. ...

It is also worth noting that there is substantial evidence for a history of extensive dialect levelling, or even convergent evolution or intermixture of two or more originally distinct linguistic stocks, within the Korean language and its dialects. Many Korean dialects have basic vocabulary that is etymologically distinct from vocabulary of identical meaning in Standard Korean or other dialects, such as South Jeolla dialect /kur/ vs. Standard Korean /ip/ "mouth" or Gyeongsang dialect /ʨʌŋ.gu.ʥi/ vs. Standard Korean /puːʨʰu/ "garlic chives." This suggests that the Korean Peninsula may have at one time been much more linguistically diverse than it is at present.^{[citation needed]} See also the Buyeo languages hypothesis. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related, independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches. ... Garlic chives (Simplified: 韭菜; Traditional: 韭菜; Hanyu Pinyin: ), also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leek, Ku chai or Nira is a relatively new vegetable in the English-speaking world. ... The Buyeo (Puyŏ) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje and the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. ... Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

There is a very close connection between the dialects of Korean and the regions of Korea, since the boundaries of both are largely determined by mountains and seas. Here is a list of traditional dialect names and locations: Korea has traditionally been divided into a number of unofficial regions that reflect historical, geographical, and dialect boundaries within the peninsula. ...

The Seoul dialect is the basis of the standard dialect of Korean in South Korea. ... Short name Statistics Location map Map of location of Seoul. ... Inchon redirects here. ... Gyeonggi is the most populous province in South Korea. ... Not to be confused with PyeongChang. ... Pyŏngan (Pyŏngan-do) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... Chagang (Chagang-do) is a province in North Korea. ... Gyeonggi is the most populous province in South Korea. ... Short name Statistics Location map Map of South Korea highlighting the city. ... Chungcheong (Chungcheong-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... Gangwon-do is a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. ... Kangwon (Kangwon-do) is a province of North Korea, with its capital at Wŏnsan. ... The Gyeongsang dialect is a dialect of the Korean language which is widely used in the Yeongnam region, which includes North and South Gyeongsang provinces. ... Busan Metropolitan City, also known as Pusan[1] is the largest port city in the Republic of Korea. ... Short name Statistics Location map Map of South Korea highlighting the city. ... Ulsan, a metropolitan city in the south-east of South Korea, facing the Sea of Japan (East Sea). ... Gyeongsang (Gyeongsang-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Rasŏn (formerly Rajin-Sŏnbong) is a Directly Governed City in North Korea, which borders with Jilin province of China and Primorsky Krai of Russia. ... Hamgyŏng (Hamgyŏng-do) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... Ryanggang (Ryanggang-do) is a province in North Korea. ... Hwanghae (Hwanghae-do) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty, and one of the thirteen provinces of Korea during the Japanese Colonial Period. ... Jeju dialect is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in Korea, with the exception of Chuja. ... Jeju is the smallest province of South Korea, situated on its largest island. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about Gwangju Metropolitan City. ... Jeolla (Jeolla-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ...

Phonology

Main article: Korean phonology

The Korean consonants

The IPA symbol <͈> (a subscript double straight quotation mark) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /ʨ͈/, /s͈/. Its official use in the Extended IPA is for 'strong' articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice. The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice, but it is not yet known how typical this is of faucalized consonants. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis and additional subglottal pressure in addition to tense vocal tract walls, laryngeal lowering, or other expansion of the larynx. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Affricate consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ) but release as a fricative (such as or or, in a couple of languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Fortis (from Latin fortis strong) and lenis (from Latin lenis weak) are linguistics terms. ... Faucalized voice, also called hollow or yawny voice, is the production of speech sounds with an expanded laryngeal cavity. ... The term stiff voice describes the pronunciation of consonants with a glottal opening narrower, and the vocal cords stiffer, than what occurs in normal (modal) voice. ... The space between the vocal cords is called the glottis. ...

Vowels

The Korean vowels

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Phonology

/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 end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (Example: beoseot (버섯) 'mushroom'). Sagittal section of alveolo-palatal fricative In phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) consonants are palatalized postalveolar fricatives, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ...

/h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u], a palatal [ç] before [j] or [i], a velar [x] before [ɯ], a voiced [ɦ] between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere.^{[citation needed]} In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ...

/p, t, ʨ, k/ become voiced [b, d, ʥ, g] between voiced sounds.

/l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/. Note that a written syllable-final 'ㄹ', when followed by a vowel or a glide (i.e., when the next character starts with 'ㅇ'), migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ].

Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before [j], and otherwise became /n/. However, the inflow of western loanword changed the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either [ɾ] or [l]. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /l/ became a morphological rule called "initial law" (두음법칙) in South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial /l/ in North Korea.

All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) are unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚] at the end of a word. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes, obstruents and sonorants. ... An unreleased stop or plosive is a plosive consonant without an audible release burst. ...

Plosive stops /p, t, k/ become nasal stops [m, n, ŋ] before nasal stops.

Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains the underlying morphology. Jamo redirects here. ... For other uses, see Morphology. ...

One difference between the pronunciation standards of North and South Korea is the treatment of initial [r], and initial [n]. For example,

• "labour" - north: rodong (로동), south: nodong (노동)
• "history" - north: ryŏksa (력사), south: yeoksa (역사)
• "female" - north: nyŏja (녀자), south: yeoja (여자)

Grammar

Sentence structure

Korean is an agglutinative language. Modifiers precede the modified word. The basic form of a Korean sentence is Subject Object Verb, but the verb is the only required and immovable element. It has been suggested that Agglutination be merged into this article or section. ... In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ...

A: "가게에 가세요?" (gage-e gaseyo?)

B: "네." (ne.)

Literal translation:

A: *"store (가게) + to(에) + go(가) +[polite interrogative marker]?"

B: "Yes."

English equivalent:

A: "Going to the store?"

B: "Yes."

Parts of speech

Verb

Korean verbs (동사, dongsa, 動詞) are also known in English as "action verbs" or "dynamic verbs" to distinguish them from (형용사, hyeong-yongsa, "adjectives"), which are also known as "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs". It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ...

Examples include 하다 (hada, "to do, to have") and 가다 (gada, "to go"). For a larger list of Korean verbs, see wikt:Category:Korean verbs.

Unlike most European languages, Korean does not conjugate verbs using agreement with the subject, and nouns have no gender. Instead, verb conjugations depend upon the verb tense, aspect, mood, and the social relation between the speaker, the subjects, and the listeners. The system of speech levels and honorifics loosely resembles the T-V distinction of most Indo-European languages. For example, different endings are used based on whether the subjects and listeners are friends, parents, or honoured persons. In sociolinguistics, a T-V distinction describes the situation wherein a language has second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ...

Adjective

Words categorized as Korean adjectives (형용사, hyeong-yongsa, 形容詞) conjugate similarly to verbs, so some English texts call them "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs", but they are distinctly separate from 동사 (dongsa). In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjectives subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. ... A stative verb is one which asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property (possibly in relation to its other arguments). ...

English does not have an identical grammatical category, so the English translation of Korean adjectives may misleadingly suggest that they are verbs. For example, 붉다 (bukda) translates literally as "to be red" and 아쉽다 (aswipda) often best translates as "to miss", but both are 형용사 (hyeong-yongsa, "adjectives"). For a larger list of Korean adjectives, see wikt:Category:Korean adjectives.

Determiner

Korean determiners (관형사, gwanhyeongsa) are also known in English as "determinatives", "adnominals", "pre-nouns", "attributives", and "unconjugated adjectives". Examples include 각 (gak, "each") and 느린 (neurin,"slow"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean determiners. For the function in NP structure, see Determiner (function). ...

Noun

Korean nouns (명사, myeongsa) are also known in English as "substantives". Examples include 가족 (gajok, "household") and 맛 (mat, "flavor"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean nouns. In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ...

Pronoun

Korean pronouns (대명사, daemyeongsa) include 나 (na, "I") and 그 (geu). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean pronouns. In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English. ...

Adverb

Korean adverbs (부사, busa) include 또 (tto, "also") and 가득 (gadeuk, "fully"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean adverbs. Adverbs redirects here. ...

Particle

Korean particles (조사, josa) are also known in English as "postpositions". Examples include 는 (neun, topic marker) and 를 (reul, object marker). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean particles. In linguistics, the term particle is often employed as a useful catch-all lacking a strict definition. ... In grammar, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. ...

Interjection

Korean interjections (감탄사, gamtansa) are also known in English as "exclamations". Examples include 아니 (ani, "no"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean interjections. An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions. ...

Number

Korean numbers (수사, susa) are also known in English as "numerals". For other uses, see Number (disambiguation). ...

Speech levels and honorifics

Main article: Korean honorifics

The relationship between a speaker or writer and his or her subject and audience is paramount in Korean, and the grammar reflects this. The relationship between speaker/writer and subject referent is reflected in honorifics, while that between speaker/writer and audience is reflected in speech level. In Korean language, the relationship between a speaker or writer and his or her subject and audience is paramount, and the grammar reflects this. ... An honorific is a word or expression that conveys esteem or respect and is used in addressing or referring to a person. ...

Honorifics

When talking about someone superior in status, a speaker or writer usually uses special nouns or verb endings to indicate the subject's superiority. Generally, someone is superior in status if he/she is an older relative, a stranger of roughly equal or greater age, or an employer, teacher, customer, or the like. Someone is equal or inferior in status if he/she is a younger stranger, student, employee or the like.

Speech levels

There are no fewer than 7 verb paradigms or speech levels in Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb endings which are used to indicate the level of formality of a situation. Unlike "honorifics" — which are used to show respect towards the referent of a subject — speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience. The names of the 7 levels are derived from the non-honorific imperative form of the verb 하다 (hada, "do") in each level, plus the suffix 체 ('che', Hanja: 體), which means "style." For other uses, see Paradigm (disambiguation). ... Imperative programming, as opposed to functional programming, is a sort of programming employing side-effect as central execution feature. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ...

The highest 5 levels are generally grouped together as jondaemal (존대말), while the lowest 2 levels (haeche, 해체) are called banmal (반말) in Korean.

Vocabulary

The core of the Korean vocabulary is made up of native Korean words. More than 50% of the vocabulary (up to 70% by some estimates), however, especially scholarly terminology, are Sino-Korean words^{[citation needed]}, either Sino-Korean describes those elements of the Korean language that come directly or indirectly from Chinese — namely, Hanja and the words formed from them. ...

• directly borrowed from Written Chinese, or
• coined in Japan or Korea using Chinese characters.

Korean has two number systems: one native, and one borrowed from the Chinese. Various styles of Chinese calligraphy. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Korean language has two regularly used sets of numerals, Sino-Korean and native Korean For both native and Sino-Korean numerals, the teens (11 through 19) are represented by a combination of tens and the ones places. ...

To a much lesser extent, words have also occasionally been borrowed from Mongolian, Sanskrit, and other languages. Conversely, the Korean language itself has also contributed some loanwords to other languages, most notably the Tsushima dialect of Japanese. Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... // As with any language, Japanese has its share of regional dialects. ...

In modern times, many words have been borrowed from Japanese and Western languages such as German (areubaiteu ‘part-time job’, allereugi ‘allergy’) and more recently English. Concerning daily usage vocabulary except what can be written in hanja, more words have possibly been borrowed from English than from any other language. Some Western words were borrowed indirectly via Japanese, taking a Japanese sound pattern, for example ‘dozen’ > ダース dāsu > 다스 daseu. Most indirect Western borrowings are now written according to current hangulization rules for the respective Western language, as if borrowed directly. There are a few more complicated borrowings such as ‘German(y)’ (see Names for Germany), the first part of whose endonym [ˈd̥ɔɪ̯ʧʷ.la̠ntʰ] the Japanese approximated using the kanji 獨逸 doitsu that were then accepted into the Korean language by their Sino-Korean pronunciation: 獨 dok + 逸 il = Dogil. In South Korean official use, a number of other Sino-Korean country names have been replaced with phonetically oriented hangulizations of the countries' endonyms or English names. European languages are the object of Eurolinguistics. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Because of Germanys geographic position in the centre of Europe and its long history as a disunited region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely-varying names for Germany in different languages, perhaps more than for any other European nation: for example, in German the country is... An exonym is a name for a place that is not used within that place by the local inhabitants (neither in the official language of the state nor in local languages[1]), or a name for a people or language that is not used by the people or language to... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ...

North Korean vocabulary shows a tendency to prefer native Korean over Sino-Korean or foreign borrowings, especially with recent political objectives aimed at eliminating foreign (mostly Chinese) influences on the Korean language in the North. By contrast, South Korean may have several Sino-Korean or foreign borrowings which tend to be absent in North Korean.

Writing system

Main article: Hangul

See also: Hangul consonant and vowel tables

In ancient times, the languages of the Korean peninsula were written using Chinese characters, using hyangchal or idu. Knowledge of such systems were lost, and the Korean language was not written at all; the aristocracy used Classical Chinese for its writing. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language. ... Jamo redirects here. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... Hyangchal (hangul: 향찰; hanja: 鄕札; revised: hyangchal; McCune-Reischauer: hyangchal) is an archaic writing system used in Korea. ... Gugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. ... Idu munja is an archaic writing system which represents the Korean language using hanja. ... Korean romanization means using letters of the Latin alphabet to write Korean language, which in Korea is written using Hangul, and sometimes Hanja. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... The Yale romanizations are four systems created during World War II for use by United States military personnel. ... Jamo redirects here. ... The following are tables on the jamo of Hangul consonants and vowels, with the original forms in blue at the first row, and their derivatives (in form and having additional sounds) in the following rows. ... Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quốc ngữ: Hán tá»±: A Chinese character or Han character (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a logogram used in writing Chinese, Japanese, sometimes Korean, and formerly Vietnamese. ... Hyangchal (hangul: 향찰; hanja: 鄕札; revised: hyangchal; McCune-Reischauer: hyangchal) is an archaic writing system used in Korea. ... Idu munja is an archaic writing system which represents the Korean language using hanja. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of very old forms of Chinese , making it very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ...

Korean is now mainly written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet, optionally mixing in Hanja to write Sino-Korean words. South Korea still teaches 1800 Hanja characters in its schools, while the North abolished the use of hanja decades ago. Jamo redirects here. ... Sino-Korean describes those elements of the Korean language that come directly or indirectly from Chinese — namely, Hanja and the words formed from them. ...

Below is a chart of the Korean alphabet's symbols and their canonical IPA values: Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

Modern Korean is written with spaces between words, a feature not found in Chinese or Japanese. Korean punctuation marks are almost identical to Western ones. Traditionally, Korean was written in columns from top to bottom, right to left, but is now usually written in rows from left to right, top to bottom. Jamo redirects here. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Jamo redirects here. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... A space is a punctuation convention for providing interword separation in some scripts, including the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Arabic. ... For other uses, see Word (disambiguation). ... The term punctuation has two different linguistic meanings: in general, the act and the effect of punctuating, i. ...

Differences between North Korea and South Korea

Main article: Korean language North-South differences

The Korean language used in the North and the South exhibits differences in pronunciation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.^[7] The North-South differences in the Korean language refers to the differences in the Korean language used in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea; hereafter the North) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea; hereafter denoted the South). From a linguistic point of view, the language used...

Pronunciation

In North Korea, palatalization of /si/ is optional, and /ʨ/ can be pronounced as [z] in between vowels. Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ...

Words that are written the same way may be pronounced differently, such as the examples below. The pronunciations below are given in Revised Romanization, McCune-Reischauer and Hangul, the last of which represents what the Hangul would be if one writes the word as pronounced. The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ...

* Similar pronunciation is used in the North whenever the hanja "的" is attached to a Sino-Korean word ending in ㄴ, ㅁ or ㅇ. (In the South, this rule only applies when it is attached to any single-character Sino-Korean word.) The Amnok River, or the Yalu River, is a river on the border between China and North Korea. ...

Spelling

Some words are spelt differently by the North and the South, but the pronunciations are the same.

Hallasan (한라산) is a dormant volcano on Jeju Island of South Korea. ...

Spelling and pronunciation

Some words have different spellings and pronunciations in the North and the South, some of which were given in the "Phonology" section above:

In general, when transcribing place names, North Korea tends to use the pronunciation in the original language more than South Korea, which often uses the pronunciation in English. For example: Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. ... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born February 16, 1942) is the leader of North Korea. ...

September 2004 Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар, [Ulaɣan Baɣatar]) in Mongolian, is the capital of Mongolia. ... For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ...

Grammar

Some grammatical constructions are also different:

Vocabulary

Some vocabulary is different between the North and the South:

Others

In the North, guillemets 《 and 》 are the symbols used for quotes; in the South, quotation marks equivalent to the English ones, “ and ”, are standard, although 『 』 and 「 」 are sometimes used in popular novels. The symbol &#8243;, while technically the double-prime, is also used to mean inch. ...

See also

• Hangul
• Korean romanization
  • Revised romanization of Korean
  • McCune-Reischauer
  • Yale Romanization#Korean
  • SKATS
• Korean numerals
• Korean count word
• Korean language and computers
• Hanja
• Sino-Korean
• Korean with mixed script of Hangul and Hanja
• List of English words of Korean origin
• Altaic hypothesis
• List of Korea-related topics
• Vowel harmony

Jamo redirects here. ... Korean romanization means using letters of the Latin alphabet to write Korean language, which in Korea is written using Hangul, and sometimes Hanja. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... The Yale romanizations are four systems created during World War II for use by United States military personnel. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Korean language has two regularly used sets of numerals, Sino-Korean and native Korean For both native and Sino-Korean numerals, the teens (11 through 19) are represented by a combination of tens and the ones places. ... Like Japanese and Chinese, Korean uses special measure or counting words to count objects and events. ... Computers represent the Korean language in a variety of ways. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... Sino-Korean describes those elements of the Korean language that come directly or indirectly from Chinese — namely, Hanja and the words formed from them. ... Words of Korean origin have entered other languages, including English. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Altaic languages. ... This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ... Vowel harmony (also metaphony) is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

Bibliography

• Sohn, H.-M. (1999). The Korean Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Song, J.J. (2005). The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context. London: Routledge.

External links

Korean language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Korean language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus

Look up Category:Korean language in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikibooks' [[wikibooks:|]] has more about this subject:

Korean

• Korean language overview
• Ethnologue report for Korean
• Ministry of Education's KOSNET
• KOREAN through ENGLISH at Ministry of Culture and Tourism
• Linguistic map of Korea
• Korean vocabulary
• Korean-English and English-Korean Dictionary
• Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean
• Beginners Guide
• The Korean Study Room

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ... Altaic is a proposed language family that includes 66 languages [1] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia. ... The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family. ... The Mongolic languages are a group of thirteen languages spoken in Central Asia. ... Tungusic languages (or Manchu-Tungus languages) are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. ... The Japonic languages or Japanese-Ryukyuan languages constitute a language family that is agreed to have descended from a common ancestral language known as Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan. ... The Buyeo (Puyŏ) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje and the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. ... The Buyeo (Puyŏ) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje and the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. ... The Buyeo (Puyŏ) languages are a hypothetical language family that would relate the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Baekje and the Japonic languages, and possibly place them together as a family under the hypothetical Altaic family. ... Okjeo was a small tribal state which arose in the northern Korean peninsula from perhaps 2nd century BC to 5th century AD. Dong-okjeo (East Okjeo) occupied roughly the area of the Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea, and Buk-okjeo (North Okjeo) occupied the Duman River region. ... Dongye was a state which occupied portions of the northeastern Korean peninsula from roughly 150 BCE to around 400 CE. It bordered Goguryeo and Okjeo to the north, Jinhan to the south, and Chinas Lelang Commandery to the west. ... The Goguryeo language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (37 BC – AD 668), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... The Japonic languages or Japanese-Ryukyuan languages constitute a language family that is agreed to have descended from a common ancestral language known as Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan. ... The Old Japanese language is the Japanese language as used in the Kojiki, Manyoshu, Nihonshoki, and other early records of Japanese history and poetry. ... Late Old Japanese ) is a stage of the Japanese language used between 794 and 1185, a time known as the Heian Period. ... The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands and in Japans Kagoshima Prefecture, and make up a subfamily of the Japonic language family. ... Old Korean correponds to the Korean language from the beginning of Three Kingdoms of Korea to the latter part of the Unified Silla[1], of which period is roughly from 1CE to 10CE. There are many theories to differentiate the Korean language histories [2], [3], [4], [5], [6],[7], [8... Byeonhan also known as Byeonjin (&#48320;&#51652;]]/&#24321;&#36784;]]) was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from the 1st century BC to the 4th century CE in the southern Korean peninsula. ... Mahan was a tribal confederation in Iron Age Korea around the beginning of the Common Era. ... Jinhan was one of the three tribal confederations which dominated southern Korea during the Samhan period, around the beginning of the Common Era. ... Gaya was a confederacy of chiefdoms that existed in the Nakdong River valley of Korea during the Three Kingdoms era. ... Baekje (October 18 BC – August AD 660) was a kingdom in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. ... The Silla language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BCE - 935 CE), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... Middle Korean corresponds to the age from 10th century to 16th century, or from the era of Goryeo to the middle of Joseon The language of this period is based on the dialect of Kaesong because the new Goryeo dyasty moved its capital city to north area of Korean peninsula. ... Koryo-mar (Hangul: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар; Standard Korean: 중앙아시아한국어, literally Central Asia Korean language) is the dialect of the Korean language spoken by the Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans in the former USSR. It is descended from the North Hamgyong dialect of Korean. ...