KOREAN LANGUAGE

:''This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language. See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system.''
'Korean' (/, 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.
The genealogical classification of the Korean language is debated. Many linguists place it in the Altaic language family, but some consider it to be a language isolate. It is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax. Similar to 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]

Contents

Names

Classification

Dialects

Sounds

Consonants

Vowels

Monophthongs

Diphthongs and glides

Phonology

Phonotactics

Vowel harmony

Grammar

Sentence structure

Parts of speech

Verb

Adjective

Determiner

Noun

Pronoun

Adverb

Particle

Interjection

Number

Speech levels and honorifics

Honorifics

Speech levels

Vocabulary

Writing system

Differences between North Korea and South Korea

Pronunciation

Spelling

Spelling and pronunciation

Grammar

Vocabulary

Others

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Names

The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in North and South Korea.
In North Korea and Yanbian in China, the language is most often called ''Chosŏnmal'' (; with Hanja: 朝鮮말), or more formally, ''Chosŏnŏ'' (; 朝鮮語).
In the Republic of Korea, the language is most often called ''Hangungmal''
(; 韓國말), or more formally, ''Hangugeo'' (; 韓國語) or ''Gugeo'' (; 國語; literally "national language"). It is sometimes colloquially called ''Urimal'' ("our language"; in one word in South Korea, 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).

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.
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]
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 (which is corroborated by Japanese Emperor Akihito in a speech marking his 68th birthday).^[5]
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.
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.
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]

Dialects

Main articles: Korean dialects


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.
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 "mouth" or Gyeongsang dialect vs. Standard Korean "garlic chives." This suggests that the Korean Peninsula may have at one time been much more linguistically diverse than it is at present. See also the Buyeo languages hypothesis.
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:

Standard dialect	Where used
Seoul	Seoul (서울), Incheon (인천), Gyeonggi (경기)
P'yŏngan (평양)	P'yŏngyang, P'yŏngan region, Chagang (North Korea)
Regional dialect	Where used
Gyeonggi	some of Gyeonggi region (South Korea)
Chungcheong	Daejeon, Chungcheong region (South Korea)
Gangwon	Gangwon-do (South Korea)/Kangwŏn (North Korea)
Gyeongsang	Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, Gyeongsang region (South Korea)
Hamgyŏng	Rasŏn, Hamgyŏng region, Ryanggang (North Korea)
Hwanghae	Hwanghae region (North Korea)
Jeju	Jeju Island/Province (South Korea)
Jeolla	Gwangju, Jeolla region (South Korea)

Sounds

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive or Affricate	plain
	tense
	aspirate
Fricative	plain
	tense
Nasal					(syllable-final)
Liquid

Example words for consonants:

Phoneme	Example	Romanized	English
ㅂ		''bal''	'foot'
ㅃ		''ppalda''	'to suck' or 'to wash (clothes)'
ㅍ		''pal''	'arm'
ㅁ		''mal''	'horse'
ㄷ		''dal''	'moon'
ㄸ		''ttal''	'daughter'
ㅌ		''tada''	'to ride' or 'to burn', etc.
ㄴ		''nal''	'day'
ㅈ		''jal''	'well'
ㅉ		''jjada''	'to squeeze' or 'to be salty'
ㅊ		''chada''	'to kick' or 'cold'
ㄱ		''gada''	'to go'
ㄲ		''kkalda''	'to spread; to lay out'
ㅋ		''kal''	'knife'
ㅇ		''bang''	'room'
ㅅ		''sal''	'flesh'
ㅆ		''ssal''	'uncooked grains of rice'
ㄹ		''baram''	'wind' or 'wish'
ㅎ		''hada''	'to do'

The IPA symbol <> (a subscript double straight quotation mark) is used to denote the tensed consonants . 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.
Sometimes the tense consonants are indicated with the apostrophe-like symbol <>, but this is inappropriate, as IPA <> represents the ejective consonants, with their piston-like upward glottal movement and non-pulmonic air pressure, which the Korean tense consonants do not feature.

Vowels

The short vowel phonemes of Korean

The long vowel phonemes of Korean

The Korean vowels

Monophthongs	/i/ ㅣ, /e/ ㅔ, /ɛ/ ㅐ, /a/ ㅏ, /o/ ㅗ, /u/ ㅜ, /ʌ/ ㅓ, /ɯ/ ㅡ, /ø/ ㅚ
Vowels preceded by intermediaries, or Diphthongs	/je/ ㅖ, /jɛ/ ㅒ, /ja/ ㅑ, /wi/ ㅟ, /we/ ㅞ, /wɛ/ ㅙ, /wa/ ㅘ, /ɯi/ ㅢ, /jo/ ㅛ, /ju/ ㅠ, /jʌ/ ㅕ, /wʌ/ ㅝ

( ㅢ is the only true diphthong in the Korean language.)

Monophthongs

Korean has 8 different vowel qualities and a length distinction for each. Two more vowels, the close-mid front rounded vowel (IPA: , Hangul: ㅚ) and the close front rounded vowel (IPA: , Hangul: ㅟ), can still be heard in the speech of some older speakers, but they have been largely replaced by the diphthongs and respectively. In a 2003 survey of 350 speakers from Seoul, nearly 90% pronounced the vowel 'ㅟ' as . Length distinction is almost completely lost; length distinction for all vowels can still be heard from older speakers, but almost all younger speakers either do not distinguish length consistently or do not distinguish it at all. The distinction between and is another decreasing element in the speech of some younger speakers, mostly in the area of Seoul, whereas in other dialectal areas the two vowels can be distinctly heard. For those speakers who do not make the difference seems to be the dominant form. Long is actually for most speakers.^[7]

Short vowel	Long vowel
/i/ (''sijang'' [ɕiˈʥaŋ], 'hunger')	/iː/ (''sijang'' [ˈɕiːʥaŋ], 'market')
/e/ (''begae'' [peˈɡɛ], 'pillow')	/eː/ (''beda'' [ˈpeːda], 'cut')
/ɛ/ (''taeyang'' [tʰɛˈjaŋ], 'sun')	/ɛː/ (''taedo'', [ˈtʰɛːdo], 'attitude')
/a/ (''mal'' [ˈmal], 'horse')	/aː/ (''mal'' [ˈmaːl], 'word, language')
/o/ (''bori'' [poˈɾi], 'barley')	/oː/ (''bosu'' [ˈpoːsu], 'salary')
/u/ (''guri'' [kuˈɾi], 'copper')	/uː/ (''subak'' [ˈsuːbak], 'watermelon')
/ʌ/ (''beol'' [ˈpʌl], 'punishment')	/əː/ (''beol'' [ˈpəːl], 'bee')
/ɯ/ (''eoreun'' [ˈəːɾɯn], 'seniors')	/ɯː/ (''eumsik'' [ˈɯːmɕik], 'food')
/ø/ (''gyohoe'' [ˈkjoːhwe, ˈkjoːhø, ], 'church')	/øː/ (''oetu'' [ˈweːtʰu, ˈøːtʰu], 'overcoat')7

Diphthongs and glides

and are considered to be components of diphthongs rather than separate consonant phonemes.

j				w				ɯ
				wi	[twi]	''dwi''	'back'	ɯi	[ˈɯisa]	''uisa''	'doctor'
je	[ˈjeːsan]	''yesan''	'budget'	we	[kwe]	''gwe''	'box'
jɛ	[ˈjɛːgi]	''yaegi''	'story'	wɛ	[wɛ]	''wae''	'why'
ja	[ˈjaːgu]	''yagu''	'baseball'	wa	[kwaːˈil]	''gwail''	'fruit'
jo	[ˈkjoːsa]	''gyosa''	'teacher'
ju	[juˈɾi]	''yuri''	'glass'
jʌ	[jʌgi]	''yeogi''	'here'	wʌ	[mwʌ]	''mwo''	'what'7

Phonology

becomes an alveolo-palatal before or 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').
may become a bilabial before or , a palatal before or , a velar before , a voiced between voiced sounds, and a elsewhere.
become voiced between voiced sounds.
becomes alveolar flap between vowels, and or at the end of a syllable or next to another . 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 .
Traditionally, was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before , and otherwise became . However, the inflow of western loanword changed the trend, and now word-initial (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either or . The traditional prohibition of word-initial became a morphological rule called "initial law" (두음법칙) in South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial in North Korea.
All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) are unreleased at the end of a word.
Plosive stops become nasal stops before nasal stops.
Some of these phonetic assimilation rules can be seen in the following:

★ is pronounced as

★ as
Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains the underlying morphology.
One difference between the pronunciation standards of North and South Korea is the treatment of initial , and initial . For example,

★ "labour" - north: '''r'odong'' (로동), south: '''n'odong'' (노동)

★ "history" - north: '''ry'ŏksa'' (력사), south: '''y'eoksa'' (역사)

★ "female" - north: '''ny'ŏja'' (녀자), south: '''y'eoja'' (여자)

Phonotactics

Korean syllables may not start or end with consonant clusters, except in a few cases. Consequently, consonant clusters in Korean are usually limited to clusters of two consonants where two syllables have been joined.
Only seven consonant allophones are found at the end of utterances: and . Utterance-final plosives are all unreleased.

Vowel harmony

'Korean Vowel Harmony'

Positive/"light"/Yang Vowels	ㅏ (a)	ㅑ (ya)	ㅗ (o)	ㅛ (yo)
	ㅐ (ae)	ㅘ (wa)	ㅚ (oe)	ㅙ (wae)
Negative/"heavy"/Yin Vowels	ㅓ (eo)	ㅕ (yeo)	ㅜ (u)	ㅠ (yu)
	ㅔ (e)	ㅝ (wo)	ㅟ (wi)	ㅞ (we)
Neutral/Centre Vowels	ㅡ (eu)	ㅣ (i)	ㅢ (ui)

Traditionally, the Korean language has had strong vowel harmony; that is, in pre-modern Korean, as in most Altaic languages, not only did the inflectional and derivational affixes (such as postpositions) change in accordance to the main root vowel, but native words also adhered to vowel harmony. It is not as prevalent in modern usage, although it remains strong in onomatopoeia, adjectives and adverbs, interjections, and conjugation. There are also other traces of vowel harmony in Korean.
There are three classes of vowels in Korean: positive, negative, and neutral. The vowel eu is considered partially a neutral and negative vowel. The vowel classes loosely follow the negative and positive vowels; they also follow orthography. Exchanging positive vowels with negative vowels usually creates different nuances of meaning, with positive vowels sounding diminutive and negative vowels sounding crude.
Some examples:

★ 'Onomatopoeia:'

★
★ 퐁당퐁당 (pongdangpongdang) and 풍덩풍덩 (pungdeongpungdeong), light and heavy water splashing

★ 'Emphasised Adjectives:'

★
★ 노랗다 (norata) means plain yellow, while its negative, 누렇다 (nureota) means very yellow

★
★ 파랗다 (parata) means plain blue, while its negative, 퍼렇다 (peoreota) means deep blue

★ 'Particles at the end of verbs:'

★
★ 잡다 (japda) (to catch) → 잡았다 (Jabatda) (caught)

★
★ 접다 (jeopda) (to fold) → 접었다 (Jeobeotda) (folded)

★ 'Interjections:'

★
★ 아이고 (aigo) and 어이구 (eoigu) meaning "oh!"

★
★ 아하 (aha) and 어허 (eoheo) meaning "indeed" and "well" respectively

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.
:'A': "가게에 가세요?" (''gage-e gaseyo?'')
:'B': "네." (''ne.'')
''Literal translation'':
:'A':
★ "store+[location marker] go+[polite interrogative marker]?"
:'B': "Yes."
''English equivalent'':
:'A': "Are [you] going to the store?"
:'B': "Yes."

Parts of speech

Verb

Korean verbs (, ''dongsa'', 動詞) are also known in English as "action verbs" or "dynamic verbs" to distinguish them from (, ''hyeong-yongsa'', "adjectives"), which are also known as "descriptive verbs" or "stative verbs".
Examples include (''hada'', "to do, to have") and (''gada'', "to go"). For a larger list of Korean verbs, see .
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.

Adjective

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

Determiner

Korean determiners (, ''gwanhyeongsa'') are also known in English as "determinatives", "adnominals", "pre-nouns", "attributives", and "unconjugated adjectives". Examples include (''gak'', "each") and (''neurin''). For a larger list, see .

Noun

Korean nouns (, ''myeongsa'') are also known in English as "substantives". Examples include (''gajok'', "household") and (''mat'', "flavor"). For a larger list, see .

Pronoun

Korean pronouns (, ''daemyeongsa'') include (''na'', "I") and (''geu''). For a larger list, see .

Adverb

Korean adverbs (, ''busa'') include (''tto'', "also") and (''gadeuk'', "fully"). For a larger list, see .

Particle

Korean particles (, ''josa'') are also known in English as "postpositions". Examples include (''neun'', topic marker) and (''reul'', object marker). For a larger list, see .

Interjection

Korean interjections (, ''gamtansa'') are also known in English as "exclamations". Examples include (''ani'', "no"). For a larger list, see .

Number

Korean numbers (, ''susa'') are also known in English as "numerals".

Speech levels and honorifics

Main articles: 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'.

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."
The highest 5 levels use final verb endings and are generally grouped together as ''jondaemal'' (존대말), while the lowest 2 levels (해요체 ''haeyoche'' and 해체 ''haeche'') use non-final endings and are called 반말 (''banmal'', "half-words") in Korean. (The ''haeyoche'' in turn is formed by simply adding the non-final ending -요 (''-yo'') to the ''haeche'' form of the verb.)

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, either

★ 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.
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.
In modern times, many words have been borrowed from Japanese and Western languages such as German ('' ‘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 the Japanese approximated using the Kanji 獨逸 ''doitsu'' that were then accepted into the Korean language by their Sino-Korean pronunciation:  ''dok'' +  ''il'' = ''. 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.
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 articles: Hangul

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.
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.
Below is a chart of the Korean alphabet's symbols and their canonical IPA values:

'Consonants'

Hangul	ㅂ	ㄷ	ㅈ	ㄱ	ㅃ	ㄸ	ㅉ	ㄲ	ㅍ	ㅌ	ㅊ	ㅋ	ㅅ	ㅎ	ㅆ	ㅁ	ㄴ	ㅇ		ㄹ
RR	''b'',''p''	''d'',''t''	''j''	''g'',''k''	''pp''	''tt''	''jj''	''kk''	''p''	''t''	''ch''	''k''	''s''	''h''	''ss''	''m''	''n''	''ng''		''r'',''l''
IPA

'Vowels'

Hangul	ㅣ	ㅔ	ㅐ	ㅏ	ㅗ	ㅜ	ㅓ	ㅡ	ㅢ	ㅖ	ㅒ	ㅑ	ㅛ	ㅠ	ㅕ	ㅟ	ㅞ	ㅙ	ㅘ	ㅝ
RR	''i''	''e''	''ae''	''a''	''o''	''u''	''eo''	''eu''	''ui''	''ye''	''yae''	''ya''	''yo''	''yu''	''yeo''	''wi''	''we''	''wae''	''wa''	''wo''
IPA

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.

Differences between North Korea and South Korea

Main articles: Korean language North-South differences

The Korean language used in the North and the South exhibits differences in pronunciation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.^[8]

Pronunciation

In North Korea, palatalization of is optional, and can be pronounced as in between vowels.
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.

Word	Meaning	Pronunciation
		North (RR/MR)	North (Hangul)	South (RR/MR)	South (Hangul)
넓다	wide	neo'p'tta (nŏ'p'ta)	넙따	neo'l'tta (nŏ'l'ta)	널따
읽고	to read (continuative form)	i'l'kko (i'l'ko)	일꼬	i'l'kko (i'l'ko)	일꼬
압록강	Amnok River	am'r'okgang (am'r'okkang)	암록강	am'n'okkang (am'n'okkang)	암녹깡
독립	independence	dong'r'ip (tong'r'ip)	동립	dong'n'ip (tong'n'ip)	동닙
관념	idea / sense / conception	gwa'll'yeom (kwa'll'yŏm)	괄렴	gwa'nn'yeom (kwa'nn'yŏm)	관념
혁신적 ★	innovative	hyeoksinjeok (hyŏksin'ch'ŏk)	혁씬쩍	hyeoksinjeok (hyŏksin'j'ŏk)	혁씬적

★ 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.)

Spelling

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

Word spelling		Meaning	Pronunciation (RR/MR)	Remarks
North	South
해빛	햇빛	sunshine	haetbit (haetpit)	The "sai siot" ('ㅅ' used for indicating sound change) is almost never written out in the North.
벗꽃	벚꽃	cherry blossom	beotkkot (pŏtkkot)
못읽다	못 읽다	cannot read	monnikda (monnikta)	Spacing.
한나산	한라산	Hallasan	hallasan (hallasan)	When a ㄴ-ㄴ combination is pronounced as ''ll'', the original Hangul spelling is kept in the North, while the Hangul is changed in the South.
규률	규율	rules	gyuyul (kyuyul)	In words where the original hanja is spelt "렬" or "률" and follows a vowel, the initial ㄹ is not pronounced in the North, making the pronunciation identical with that in the South where the ㄹ is dropped in the spelling.

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:

Word				Meaning	Remarks
North spelling	North pronun.	South spelling	South pronun.
력량	ryeongryang (ryŏngryang)	역량	yeongnyang (yŏngnyang)	strength	Korean words originally starting in ''r'' or ''n'' have their ''r'' or ''n'' dropped in the South Korean version if the sound following it is an ''i'' or ''y'' sound.
로동	rodong (rodong)	노동	nodong (nodong)	work	Korean words originally starting in ''r'' have their ''r'' changed to ''n'' in the South Korean version if the sound following it is a sound other than ''i'' or ''y''.
원쑤	wonssu (wŏnssu)	원수	wonsu (wŏnsu)	enemy	"Enemy" and "head of state" are homophones in the South. Possibly to avoid referring to Kim Il-sung / Kim Jong-il as the enemy, the second syllable of "enemy" is written and pronounced 쑤 in the North.
라지오	rajio (rajio)	라디오	radio (radio)	radio
우	u (u)	위	wi (wi)	on; above
안해	anhae (anhae)	아내	anae (anae)	wife
꾸바	kkuba (kkuba)	쿠바	kuba (k'uba)	Cuba	When transcribing foreign words from languages that do not have contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated stops, North Koreans generally use tensed stops for the unaspirated ones while South Koreans use aspirated stops in both cases.
페	pe (p'e)	폐	pye (p'ye), pe (p'e)	lungs	All hanja pronounced as ''pye'' (''p'ye'') or ''pe'' (''p'e'') in the South are pronounced as ''pe'' (''p'e'') in the North. The spelling is also accordingly different.

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:

Original name	North Korea transliteration		English name	South Korea transliteration
	Spelling	Pronunciation		Spelling	Pronunciaton
Ulaanbaatar	울란바따르	ullanbattareu (ullanbattarŭ)	Ulan Bator	울란바토르	ullanbatoreu (ullanbat'orŭ)
København	쾨뻰하븐	koeppenhabeun (k'oeppenhabŭn)	Copenhagen	코펜하겐	kopenhagen (k'op'enhagen)
al-Qāhirah	까히라	kkahira (kkahira)	Cairo	카이로	kairo (k'airo)

Grammar

Some grammatical constructions are also different:

Word				Meaning	Remarks
North spelling	North pronun.	South spelling	South pronun.
되였다	doeyeotda (toeyŏtta)	되었다	doeeotda (toeŏtta)	past tense of 되다 (doeda/toeda), "to become"	All similar grammar forms of verbs or adjectives that end in ㅣ in the stem (i.e. ㅣ, ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅚ, ㅟ and ㅢ) in the North use 여 instead of the South's 어.
고마와요	gomawayo (komawayo)	고마워요	gomawoyo (komawŏyo)	thanks	ㅂ-irregular verbs in the North use 와 (wa) for all those with a positive ending vowel; this only happens in the South if the verb stem has only one syllable.
할가요	halgayo (halkayo)	할까요	halkkayo (halkkayo)	Shall we do?	Although the hangul differ, the pronunciations are the same (i.e. with the tensed ㄲ sound).

Vocabulary

Some vocabulary is different between the North and the South:

Word				Meaning	Remarks
North spelling	North pronun.	South spelling	South pronun.
문화주택	munhwajutaek (munhwajut'aek)	아파트	apateu (ap'at'ŭ)	Apartment	아빠트 (appateu/appat'ŭ) is also used in the North.
조선말	joseonmal (chosŏnmal)	한국어	han-gugeo(han'gugeo)	Korean language
곽밥	gwakbap (kwakpap)	도시락	dosirak (tosirak)	lunch box

Others

In the North, 《 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.

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

★ Korean profanity

References

1. Korean
2. Sohn, Ho-Min. ''The Korean Language (Section 1.5.3 "Korean vocabulary", p.12-13)'', Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521369436
3.
4. Koguryo, The Language Of Japan's Continental Relatives: the language of Japan's continental, , Christopher I., Beckwith, Brill Academic Publishers, , ISBN 9004139494
5. The emperor's new roots Jonathan Watts
6. Korea's Geographical Significance, , Homer, Hulbert, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York,
7. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, International Phonetic Association, , , Cambridge University Press, 1999,
8. Kanno, Hiroomi (ed.) / Society for Korean Linguistics in Japan (1987). ''Chōsengo o manabō'' (『朝鮮語を学ぼう』), Sanshūsha, Tokyo. ISBN 4-384-01506-2

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 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

★ Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean

★ Beginners Guide