The Korean Language Ho-Min SohnThe Korean Language This book provides a detailed survey of the Korean language, covering its speakers, genetic affiliation, historical development, dialectal variation, lexicon, writing systems, sound patterns, word structure, and grammatical structure. It is designed to be accessible to a wide readership, and provides a wealth of data in a user-friendly format that does not presuppose an in-depth knowledge of the latest linguistic theories. It will be used by general linguists and Korean linguists who are interested in the typological characteristics of the language from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, and by undergraduates and graduate students in those disciplines who seek a comprehensive introduction to the linguistics of Korean. Likewise, advanced students of the Korean language and language educators will find it offers valuable insights into lexical, phonological, morphological and syntactic aspects of the language for their purposes. HO-MIN SOHN is Professor of Korean Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and President of the Korean Language Education and Research Center. He is a past president of both the American Association of Teachers of Korean (1994-7) and of the Intemational Circle of Korean Linguistics (1979-81). He is presently the Project Director of an international collaborative project developing Korean language textbooks and a dictionary of Korean grammar and usage. His numerous publications include Korean: Descriptive Grammar (1994), Korean Proficiency Guidelines (1992), Linguistic Expeditions (1986), Woleaian-English Dictionary (1976), Woleaian Reference Grammar (1975), and A Ulithian Grammar (1973).CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE SURVEYS General editors S.R. Anderson (Yale University) J. Bresnan (Stanford University) B. Comrie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig) W. Dressler (University of Vienna) C. Ewen (University of Leiden) R. Lass (University of Cape Town) D, Lightfoot (University of Maryland) P.H. Matthews (University of Cambridge) S. Romaine (University of Oxford) N.V. Smith (University College, London) N. Vincent (University of Manchester) This series offers general accounts of the major language families of the world, with volumes organised either on a purely genetic basis or on a geographical basis, whichever yields the most convenient and intelligible grouping in each case. Each volume compares and contrasts the typological features of the languages it deals with. It also treats the relevant genetic relationships, historical development and sociolinguistic issues arising from their role and use in the world today. The books are intended for linguists from undergraduate level upwards, but no special knowledge of the languages under consideration is assumed. Volumes such as those on Australia and the Amazon Basin are also of wider relevance, as the future of the languages and their speakers raises important social and political issues, Already published ‘The languages of Australia R.M.W. Dixon ‘The languages of the Soviet Union Bernard Comrie The Mesoamerican Indian languages Jorge A. Sudres ‘The Papuan languages of New Guinea William A. Foley Chinese Jerry Norman The languages of Japan Masayoshi Shibatani Pidgins and Creoles (volume I: Theory and structure; volume Il: Reference survey) John H. Holm The Indo-Aryan languages Colin Masica The Celtic languages edited by Donald Macaulay ‘The Romance languages Rebecca Posner ‘The Amazonian languages edited by R.M.W. Dixon and Alexandra Y Aikhenvald ‘The Languages of Native North America Marianne MithunThe Korean language HO-MIN SOHN 5) CAMBRIDGE I) UNIVERSITY PRESSPUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE ‘The Pitt Building. Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, VIC 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcén 13, 28014 Madnd, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Afnica http:!/www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 1999 This book is in copyright. Subyect to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1999 Reprinted 2001 First paperback edition 2001 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge ‘Typeset in Times 9/13 [AU] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 521 36123 0 hardback ISBN 0 521 36943 6 paperbackCONTENTS Ll 1,2 1.3 14 LS 21 2.2 2.3 24 3.1 3.2 3.3 Maps Preface Abbreviations Introduction ‘Transcriptions Speakers Korean as a foreign language Linguistic study of Korean Salient features of Korean: an overview 1.5.1 Genetic affiliation and historical development 1.5.2 Dialectal variations 1.5.3 Korean vocabulary 1.5.4 Writing systems 1.5.5 The sound pattern 1.5.6 Agglutinative morphology 1.5.7 SOV syntax 1.5.8 Honorifics Genetic affiliation Prehistory of Korean Altaic hypothesis Austronesian and Dravidian hypotheses Genetic linkage between Korean and Japanese Historical development Bird’ s-eye-view of Korean history Evolvement of Korean Prehistoric and Old Korean page xv xvii xix 1 1 4 6 oo 17 17 25 29 37 37 39 4234 3.5 4.1 4.2 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4.10 3.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 6.2 6.3 Contents Middle Korean Modern and Contemporary Korean Dialects Dialectal zones Representative isoglosses 4.2.1 Prosodemes: tones and vowel length 4.2.2 Reflexes of Middle Korean 9 4.2.3 Other vowel alternations 4.2.4 Reflexes of Middle Korean z 4.2.5 Reflexes of Middle Korean 3 4.2.6 Word-medial k 4.2.7 Word-initial / and n 4.2.8 Palatalization Hamkyeng zone Phyengan zone Central zone Chwungcheng zone Kyengsang zone Cenla zone Ceyewu zone Linguistic divergence in South and North Korea 4.10.1 South Korean policies 4.10.2 North Korean policies 4.10.3 Areas of major linguistic divergence Lexicon Composition of the Korean lexicon Native words Sound symbolism Sino-Korean words. Loan words Writing systems Chinese characters 6.1.1 Introduction of Chinese characters 6.1.2. Sino-Korean pronunciation The Itwu (Clerk Reading) script Hankul: the Korean alphabet 52 57 37 60 60 62 63 63 65 65 65 66 68 69 70 7 73 14 76 7 78 oi) 87 87 92. 96 102 11s 121 121 122 123 124 12964 65 66 7 72 13 14 15 8.2 Contents 6.3.1 Creation of Hankul 6.3.2. Early literature in Hankul 6.3.3 Hankul in current use 6.3.4 Spelling conventions Mixed use of Hankul and Chinese characters Orthographic divergence in South and North Korea Romanization Sound patterns Introduction Speech sounds 7.2.1 Consonants 7.2.2 Vowels 7.2.3 Semivowels (glides) Sound combination 7.3.1 Syllable structure 7.3.2 Sequential constraints Sound alternations 7.4.1 Automatic vs. non-automatic alternation 7.4.2 Automatic sound alternations 7.4.3 Non-automatic sound alternations Rhythmic patterns 7.5.1 Length, stress, pitch 7.5.2 Intonation contours 7.5.3 Tones in the Kyengsang dialect Word structure Word categories 8.1.1 Classification 8.1.2 Nouns 8.1.3 Pronouns Numerals Verbs Adjectives Determiners Adverbs 8.1.9 Particles Affixation 8.2.1 Affixes, stems, and roots 156 163 203, 203 203 204 207 208 209 209 210 211 212 215 215xii 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 87 1 9.2 93 Contents 8.2.2 Derivation and inflection 8.2.3 Native and Sino-Korean affixes Derivational morphology 8.3.1 Noun derivation 8.3.2 Verb derivation 8.3.3. Adjective derivation 8.3.4 Adverb derivation 8.3.5 Determiner derivation Inflectional morphology 8.4.1 Inflectional categories 8.4.2 Non-terminal suffixes 8.4.3 Sentence enders 8.4.4 Embedded-clause enders 8.4.5 Irregular predicates Compounding 8.5.1 General properties 8.5.2 Compound nouns 8.5.3 Compound pronouns 8.5.4 Compound numerals 8.5.5 Compound verbs 8.5.6 Compound adjectives 8.5.7 Compound determiners 8.5.8 Compound adverbs 8.5.9 Compound particles Abbreviation Grammaticalization Grammatical structure Structural essentials Sentence types 9.2.1 Declarative, interrogative, propositive, and imperative 9.2.2 Verbs and adjectives 9.2.3 Verb sentences 9.2.4 Adjective sentences 9.2.5 Transtivity 9.2.6 Topic-stacking sentences 9.2.7 Subjectless sentences 9.2.8 Word order Syntactic relations 216 217 218 219 224 227 229 231 231 231 233 234 238 241 242 242 245 251 251 252 255 256 256 258 259 265 265 268 269 275 277 280 287 289 291 293