Aspects of the Korean Language (Exam 1)

1. ISO TR
2. National System of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
3. National System of the Republic of Korea
4. McCune-Reischauer System
5. Yale System of Romanization

Apostrophes for breaths
Markings for short vowels
/r/ in place of /l/

/l/ in place of /r/
“u” in place of “eu”

Most recent/contemporary
/r/ in place of /l/
“eu” in place of “u”

한글

조선글

King Sejong the Great (세종대왕)

1. 집현전 scholars invented 한글?
2. Inspired by lattice patterns?
3. Chinese character based?
4. H’Pagspa script based?

훈민정음, “correct sounds for the instruction of the people”

언문

국문

한글

Explanations and examples of “훈민정음”

1446 (though made in 1443)

1. 4 letters
2. Tone (indicated by dots except w/ obstruent ending)
3. Pitch
4. Accent markers

The letters, consonants in particular, are designed to represent various characteristics of the sound system.

Speech organs (place of articulations): tongue, teeth, mouth

1. Labial/Bilabial
2. Lingual/Alveolar
3. Dental
4. Molar/Velar
5. Glottal/Laryngeal

(lips)
ㅁㅂㅍ(ㅃ)

(tongue)
ㄴㄷㄹ(ㄸ)

(teeth)
ㅅㅈㅊ(ㅆㅉ)

(soft palate)
ㄱㅋ(ㄲ)

(throat)
ㅇㅎ

Aspiration or tension is added to obstruents with the addition of strokes

ㅇ /ng/

A dot

Has dots below a horizontal line or on the left side of a vertical line.
ㅜㅠㅓㅕ

Has dots above a horizontal line or on the right side of a vertical line
ㅗㅛㅏㅑ

1. Ease of calligraphy by brush
2. Sound of “dot” disappeared

Vowel Harmony

1. consonant + vowel + consonant
2. positions for initial consonant and vowel must be filled
3. top to bottom, left to right

A phonetic form that does not change, stays the same
Example: 값

Sentences were once* written vertically from the top right corner.
Since 독립신문, spaces were adopted.
Since 한글맞춤법통일안, punctuation marks were used.
*Sentences are now written horizontally from left to right.

30,000 BC

6000 BC

1200 BC

2333 BC

37 BC ~ 668 AD

18 BC ~ 660 AD

57 BC ~ 935 AD

918~1392 AD

1392 ~ 1920 AD

1st BC~9th Century

10th ~14th Century

15th ~16th Century

17th~19th Century

20th Century

Voiced stop consonants
Loss of word-final vowels

신라 language
-aspirated sounds
-no tense sounds yet
– syllable-final consonants were released
– two liquids: /r/ and /l/ used to distinguish meanings
– word-final Chinese sounds /t/ changed to /l/
– case markers existed
– relative/modifying clause markers existed
– honorific system existed
– influx of Chinese character, or Sino-, words

– appearance of voiced obstruents
– development of tensed consonants
– maintenance of seven vowel system
– not too much difference from Old Korean

• three way (lax, aspirated, tensed) obstruent contrast
• three way (bright, dark, neutral) vowel system
• strict vowel harmony
• consonants clusters were pronounced as written
• loss of voiced obstruents
• unrelease of syllable-final consonants
• no palatalization yet
• tones
• appearance of subject marker -가
• more complex grammar

• After the seven year Japanese invasion, or Imjin War
• word-initial consonant clusters changed to tensed consonants
• vowel ‘ • ‘ disappeared
• diphthongs/triphthongs reduced to monophthongs/diphthongs
• vowel harmony started to break down
• umlaut started: non-front vowels became fronted
• palatalization started
• word-initial /n/ was deleted before i/j
• minor changed in syntax/grammar

• Japanese occupation
Japan annexed Korea in 1910.
After 1931 Korean language was not allowed in Korea
• foreign, English language, influence
• influence of mass media and mass communication

1. little authentic documentation
2. irretrievably lost earlier vocab
3. replacement of native words by Chinese loan words

Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu-Tungus

1. Word Order (SOV)
2. Agglutinative language
3. Vowel harmony
4. Lack of word-initial liquid sounds (no /r/ or /l/)
5. Sound symbolic expressions

Languages used in India

408 putative cognates, 60 phonological correspondence pairs

A language in which words are created by ‘gluing’ to the word stem

Words/Morpheme/Sounds
Syntax
Semantics (meanings)

Lack/incompleteness of available evidence
Some comparisons are not systematically correspondent
Not realistic ancient forms of the 2 languages
Based on modern/late premodern forms
Some compared pairs are Chinese borrowings

Smallest abstract sound unit that distinguishes meanings of words (often represented in / /)

Sounds made with complete closure or constriction in the vocal tract
/ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ, ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ/

Consonant made by obstruction of the airstream, such as fricatives or stops
/ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ, ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ/
/b, p, d, t, s, v, f, z…../

Obstruent made by complete closure of the vocal tract
/ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, (ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅉ)/
/b, p, d, t, g, k, (ʧ, ʤ)/

Stop + Fricative
/ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅉ/

Obstruent made by narrowing vocal tract
/ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅎ/
/f, v, h, s, z, θ, ð, ʃ, ʒ/

Sound made by no or almost no obstruction through the mouth or nose
/ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅇ/
/n, m, l, ŋ, r, j, w/

Sound made by air flow through the nose
/ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅇ/
/n, m, ŋ/

Sonorants that include laterals /l/ and rhotics /r/
/ㄹ/
/l, r/

Sound made by closing of vocal cords, which causes vocal cords’ vibrations
Includes Korean sonorants and vowels and English voiced obstruents, sonorants, and vowels

Sound made by opening the vocal cords, which does not cause vibration of vocal chords
Korean: obstruents
English: voiceless obstruents

Obstruents that are gently articulated (considered voiceless still) with the vocal chords slightly open
/ㅂ, ㄷ, ㄱ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅎ/
English n/a

Obstruents that are produced by tightly constricting the vocal chords
/ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ, /
English n/a

Obstruents that are produced by widely opening the vocal chords and with a
strong puff of air
/ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅊ /
/p, t, k, f, s, θ, ʃ, ʧ/

Resonant and syllabic sound produced with less obstruction in the vocal tract
/ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ…. /
/ a,e,i,o,u…y /

Vowel like sound that cannot form a syllable nucleus by itself, usually forms a diphthong with a vowel
ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ, ㅘ, ㅝ…
/w,j/

Glide that comes before a vowel
ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ, ㅘ, ㅝ
/w,j/

Glide that comes after a vowel
/ㅢ/
/w, j/

Part of a syllable that precedes the nucleus (vowel), or a consonant that starts a syllable
/ㅂ/ and /ㄹ/ from ‘바락’
/b/ and /r/ from ‘Barack’

Part of a syllable that follows the nucleus (vowel), or a consonant that ends a
syllable
/ㄱ/ from ‘바락’
/k/ from ‘Barack’

Phonological phenomenon that a coda of a preceding syllable is pronounced as
an onset of the following syllable

Rhythmic and intonational aspects that determine the meaning of a unit (larger
than a word)
Pitch (tone, accent), loudness, length, pause etc.

Pitch movement within a word (high, low)

Prominence (strong, weak)
Intonation: sentence level

Contemporary Seoul dialects that are used by educated people
표준말, 표준어

문화어

beyond sound-imitation
smell, taste, color, size, mood, movement, shape,
vividness, expressiveness, vitality

Least sonorant/
strongest
Most sonorant/
weakest
Voiceless stops
Voiced stops
Voiceless fricatives
Voiced fricatives
Nasals
Liquid
Glides
High vowels
Low vowels