Korean 한국어, 조선말 Hangugeo, Chosŏnmal
Spoken in:	South Korea, North Korea, USA, Japan, People's Republic of China, CIS, Philippines
Total speakers:	78 million[1]
Ranking:	16
Language family:	Unclassified: language isolate or Altaic language(controversial)
Writing system:	Exclusive use of hangul (N. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, The United States of America —commonly referred to as the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family Unclassified languages are languages whose genetic affiliation has not been established mostly due to lack of reliable data A language isolate, in the absolute sense is a Natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic" relationship with other living languages that is Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. & S. Korea), mix of hangul and hanja (S. Korean mixed script is a form of writing that uses both Hangul (an alphabetical script and Hanja (Chinese characters Korea), or Cyrillic alphabet (lesser used in Goryeomal)
Official status
Official language in:	North Korea  South Korea Yanbian( People's Republic of China)
Regulated by:	South Korea: The National Institute of the Korean Language 국립국어원 North Korea: Sahoe Kwahagwon Ŏhak Yŏnguso 사회과학원 어학연구소
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	ko
ISO 639-2:	kor
ISO 639-3:	kor
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by Koryo-mar, Goryeomal or Koryŏmal ( Hangul: 고려말 Russian: Корё мар Standard Korean: 중앙아시아 한국어 North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Administration The prefecture is subdivided into eight county-level divisions: six County-level cities and two counties: Yanji Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language 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 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

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 and one of the ten most spoken languages in the world. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː ^[2] It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. Administration The prefecture is subdivided into eight county-level divisions: six County-level cities and two counties: Yanji Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES There are about 80 million Korean speakers, with large groups in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, the United States, CIS (post-Soviet states), and more recently the Philippines. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP

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. Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around A language isolate, in the absolute sense is a Natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic" relationship with other living languages that is It is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together In Linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and Verb of a sentence appear or usually In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the Like Japanese, the Korean language was influenced by the Chinese language in the form of Sino-Korean words. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Sino-Korean or hanja-eo refers to the set of words in the Korean language vocabulary that originated from or were influenced by the Chinese language. 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. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ^[3]

Contents 1 Names 2 Classification 3 Dialects 4 Phonology 4.1 Consonants 4.2 Vowels 4.3 Phonology 5 Morphophonemics 6 Grammar 6.1 Sentence structure 6.2 Parts of speech 6.2.1 Verb 6.2.2 Adjective 6.2.3 Determiner 6.2.4 Noun 6.2.5 Pronoun 6.2.6 Adverb 6.2.7 Particle 6.2.8 Interjection 6.2.9 Number 7 Speech levels and honorifics 7.1 Honorifics 7.2 Speech levels 8 Vocabulary 9 Writing system 10 Differences between North Korea and South Korea 10.1 Pronunciation 10.2 Spelling 10.3 Spelling and pronunciation 10.4 Grammar 10.5 Vocabulary 10.6 Others 11 Study by non-native speakers 12 See also 13 References 14 Bibliography 15 External links

Names

The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in North and South Korea. There are various names of Korea in use today derived from ancient kingdoms and dynasties

In South Korea, the language is most often called Hangungmal (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).

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. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated

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). The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Koryo-saram (Корё сарам Hangul: 고려사람 is the name which ethnic Koreans in the Post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves There are various names of Korea in use today derived from ancient kingdoms and dynasties Koryo-mar, Goryeomal or Koryŏmal ( Hangul: 고려말 Russian: Корё мар Standard Korean: 중앙아시아 한국어

In mainland China, following the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term Cháoxiǎnyǔ (朝鲜语 or short form: Cháoyǔ (朝语)) has normally been used to refer to the language spoken in North Korea and Yanbian, while Hánguóyǔ (韩国语 or short form: Hányǔ (韩语)) is used to refer to the language spoken in South Korea. Mainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term synonymous with the area that is under the jurisdiction

Some older English sources also used the name "Corean" to refer to the language, country, and people.

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

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. Gustaf John Ramstedt born in Ekenäs October 22, 1873, died in Helsinki November 25 1950, was a Finland-Swedish Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around 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). In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong A relative pronoun is a Pronoun that marks a Relative clause within a larger sentence. Korean especially bears some morphological resemblance to some languages of the Eastern Turkic group, namely Sakha (Yakut). Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words Sakha, or Yakut, is a Turkic language with around 460000 speakers spoken in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation by the Sakha 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. The Turkic languages constitute a Language family of some thirty languages spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the ^[4]

It is also considered likely that Korean is related in some way to Japanese, since the two languages have a similar grammatical structure, and share a number of possible phonological cognates, as noted by such researchers as Samuel E. Martin and Roy Andrew Miller in the late 1960s. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Samuel Elmo Martin (born 1924 is a former professor of Far Eastern Languages at Yale University and the author of many works on the Korean and Japanese Sergei Starostin (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese-Korean 100-word Swadesh list, which places these two languages closer together than other possible members of the Altaic family. Dr Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin ( Cyrillic: Серге́й Анато́льевич Ста́ростин March 24, 1953 – September 30, ^[5]

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 by cognates such as Baekje mir, Japanese mi- "three". Buyeo or Fuyu dialects ( Buyeo or Puyŏ in Korean, Fúyú (扶餘 in Chinese) are a hypothetical Language The Goguryeo language was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (37 BC – AD 668 one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Baekje (18 BCE – 660 CE or Paekche, was a kingdom located in southwest Korea ^[6]

The possible relationship between Korean and Japanese can be exemplified by such basic vocabularly items as J. 水 mizu (Old J. midu) : K. 물 mul (Middle K. mirh) "water", mot "lake"; J. 来る ku-ru "come" (Old J. ku, also cf. irregular root changes as in past tense 来た ki-ta, negative 来ない ko-nai in Modern J. ) : K. 가다 ka-da ("go"); J. 硬い kata-i "hard" (whence 刀 kata-na "knife, sword") : K. kud-yn (hard); J. いる i-ru "to be" (past tense いた i-ta) : K. 이다 i-da "to be"; J. na, -en : K. anh "not", J. minna (Old J. mynna) "all, everyone" : K. manh- "many" (predicate mana-da), etc. ^[7]. The same possible cognates are often observed in other members of the potential Altaic family, esp. Altaic, according to its proponents is a language family that includes 66 Languages ref> Altaic languages spoken by about 348 million people mostly in and around in the Tungusic languages. The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus Tungus are spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. Cf. Nanay mue "water", giagda- "to walk", anaa, anna "not".

Others argue, however, that the similarities are not due to any genetic relationship, but rather to a sprachbund effect. A Sprachbund (ˈʃpraːxbʊnt in German plural Sprachbünde) from the German word for “language union” also known as a linguistic area, convergence 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. East Asian languages describe two notional groupings of languages in East and Southeast Asia: Languages which have been greatly influenced by The immediate classification of the Japanese language is clear it is a Japonic language along with the Ryukyuan languages.

It is presumed that modern Korean may be more closely related to the languages of Samhan and Silla than the Buyeo languages; 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. Samhan refers to the ancient confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan in central and southern Korean peninsula Silla (57 BC – 935 AD was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The Goryeo Dynasty ( 918 - 1392) (also spelled Koryŏ was a Sovereign state established in 918 by Taejo Wang Kon. Two Japanese invasions of Korea and subsequent battles on the Korean peninsula took place during the years 1592-1598 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. Jeju dialect ( Korean: 제주 방언 Hanja: 濟州方言 or Jeju language (제주어 濟州語 is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in

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. The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages (including the four literary languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada ^[8]

Dialects

Main article: Korean dialects

Korean has several dialects (called mal [literally "speech"], saturi, or bang-eon in Korean). Korean is spoken in a number of different Dialects in the Korean peninsula. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of 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. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. Pyongyang (pʰjʌŋjaŋ is the Capital and largest City of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at. These dialects are similar, and are in fact all mutually intelligible, perhaps with the exception of the dialect of Jeju Island (see Jeju Dialect). Jeju may refer to Jeju-do, an island of South Korea Jeju City, the biggest city on that island Jeju dialect ( Korean: 제주 방언 Hanja: 濟州方言 or Jeju language (제주어 濟州語 is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in The dialect spoken in Jeju is in fact classified as a different language by some Korean linguists. Jeju dialect ( Korean: 제주 방언 Hanja: 濟州方言 or Jeju language (제주어 濟州語 is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in One of the most notable differences between dialects is the use of stress: speakers of Seoul dialect use very little stress, and standard South Korean has a very flat intonation; on the other hand, speakers of the Gyeongsang dialect have a very pronounced intonation. The Seoul dialect is the basis of the Standard language 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

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. Dialect levelling is the means by which Dialect differences decrease Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages 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 입 /ip/ "mouth" or Gyeongsang dialect /ʨʌŋ. gu. ʥi/ vs. Standard Korean /puːʨʰu/ "garlic chives. Garlic chives ( also 韮菜 are also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leek, ku chai, jiu cai, Oriental garlic chives or in " 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. Buyeo or Fuyu dialects ( Buyeo or Puyŏ in Korean, Fúyú (扶餘 in Chinese) are a hypothetical Language A hypothesis (from Greek) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon (an event that is observable or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible

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. Korea has traditionally been divided into a number of unofficial regions that reflect historical geographical and dialect boundaries within the peninsula. Here is a list of traditional dialect names and locations:

Standard dialect	Where used
Seoul	Seoul (서울), Incheon (인천), most of Gyeonggi (경기)
P'yŏngan (평안)	P'yŏngyang, P'yŏngan region, Chagang (North Korea)
Regional dialect	Where used
Gyeonggi	limited areas of the 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)

Phonology

Main article: Korean phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		ㅁ /m/	ㄴ /n/		ㅇ /ŋ/ (syllable-final)
Plosive and Affricate	plain	ㅂ /p/	ㄷ /t/	ㅈ /ʨ/	ㄱ /k/
	tense	ㅃ /p͈/	ㄸ /t͈/	ㅉ /ʨ͈/	ㄲ /k͈/
	aspirated	ㅍ /pʰ/	ㅌ /tʰ/	ㅊ /ʨʰ/	ㅋ /kʰ/
Fricative	plain		ㅅ /s/			ㅎ /h/
	tense		ㅆ /s͈/
Liquid			ㄹ /l/

The IPA symbol <◌͈> (a subscript double straight quotation mark, shown here with a placeholder circle) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /ʨ͈/, /s͈/. The Seoul dialect is the basis of the Standard language of Korean in South Korea. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. Incheon is a metropolitan city and a major seaport on the west coast of South Korea, near Seoul. Gyeonggi-do is the most populous province in South Korea. The provincial capital is located at Suwon. Pyongyang (pʰjʌŋjaŋ is the Capital and largest City of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at. P'yŏngan ( P'yŏngan-do) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Chagang ( Chagang-do) is an province in North Korea; it is bordered by China on the north Ryanggang and South Hamgyong Gyeonggi-do is the most populous province in South Korea. The provincial capital is located at Suwon. Daejeon ( is a capital city of Chungcheongnamdo Province and metropolitan city in the center of South Korea. 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. Kangwŏn ( Kangwŏn-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 Daegu (pronounced) also spelled Taegu (pronounced) officially called Daegu Metropolitan City, is the fourth largest city in South Korea after Ulsan is a metropolitan city in the south-east of South Korea, facing the East Sea Gyeongsang ( Gyeongsang-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Hamgyŏng dialect ( Hangul: 함경도방언 Hanja: 咸鏡道方言 is a dialect of the Korean language used in the North Hamgyŏng, Rasŏn (formerly Rajin-Sŏnbong) is a Directly Governed City in North Korea, which borders with Jilin province of China and Primorsky Hamgyŏng ( Hamgyŏng-do) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Ryanggang ( Ryanggang-do) is a province in North Korea. The province is bordered by China on the north North Hamgyong on the east Haixi redirects here For the automobile manufacturer see Huanghai Bus Factory. Jeju dialect ( Korean: 제주 방언 Hanja: 濟州方言 or Jeju language (제주어 濟州語 is the dialect used on the island of Jeju in Jeju may refer to Jeju-do, an island of South Korea Jeju City, the biggest city on that island Jeolla dialect ( Hangul: 전라도 방언/사투리 Hanja: 全羅道方言 is used in the Jeolla ( Honam) region of South Korea including the Gwangju Metropolitan City is the sixth largest city in South Korea. Jeolla ( Jeolla-do in Korean formerly spelled Cholla or Chŏlla) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty This article is a technical description of the Phonetics and Phonology of Korean. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet 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 Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the A stop, 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 occasionally into Fricatives 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 The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Its official use in the Extensions to the IPA is for 'strong' articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice. The Extensions to the IPA are extensions of the International Phonetic Alphabet and were designed for disordered speech. Fortis ( Latin "strong" and lenis ("weak" are linguistic terms Faucalized voice, also called hollow or yawny voice, is the production of speech sounds with an expanded laryngeal cavity. The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice, but it is not yet known how typical this is of faucalized consonants. The term stiff voice describes the pronunciation of consonants with a glottal opening narrower and the vocal cords stiffer than what occurs in Modal voice. 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. The glottis is defined as the combination of the Vocal folds and the space in between the folds (the Rima glottidis)

Vowels

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

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). In Phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) Consonants are palatalized postalveolar Fricatives articulated with The North-South differences in the Korean language refers to the differences in the Korean language used in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North 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').

/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. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet 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

/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 obstruent is a Consonant sound formed by An unreleased stop or unreleased 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. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words

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)

Morphophonemics

Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending on the preceding sounds. Examples include 은/는, 이/가 and 을/를. Sometimes sounds may be inserted instead. Examples include 으로/로, 에서/서, 이든지/든지 and 이야/야. However, 으로/로 is somewhat irregular, since it will behave differently after a rieul consonant.

Korean particles

After a consonant	After a rieul	After a vowel
-의
-은		-는
-이		-가
-을		-를
-과		-와
-으로	-로

Some verbs may also change shape morphophonemically.

Grammar

Sentence structure

Korean is an agglutinative language. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together 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. In Linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and Verb of a sentence appear or usually

A: "가게에 갔어요?" (gage-e gasseoyo?)

B: "네. " (ne. )

Literal translation:

A: *"store (가게) + at,to(에) + went(갔어) +[polite interrogative marker](요)?"

B: "Yes. "

English equivalent:

A: "Did [you] go to the store?" (with "you" implied by context)

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". For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs.

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. In Sociolinguistics, a T-V distinction describes the situation wherein a Language has second-person Pronouns that distinguish varying levels of 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 (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, giving more information about the 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 lack" or "to want for", but both are 형용사 (hyeong-yongsa, "adjectives"). For a larger list of Korean adjectives, see wikt:Category:Korean adjectives.

Determiner

Korean determiners (관형사, gwanhyeongsa, 冠形詞) are also known in English as "determinatives", "adnominals", "pre-nouns", "attributives", and "unconjugated adjectives". A determiner is a Noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase including quantity rather than its attributes as expressed Examples include 각 (gak, "each"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean determiners.

Noun

Korean nouns (명사, myeongsa, 名詞) are also known in English as "substantives". Examples include 가족 (gajok, "household") and 맛 (mat, "flavor"). It doesn't have gender, and it has plural form, but singular fome can be used though it points plural thing. For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean nouns.

Pronoun

Korean pronouns (대명사, daemyeongsa, 代名詞) include 나 (na, "I") and 그 (geu). In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean pronouns.

Adverb

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

Particle

Korean particles (조사, josa, 助詞) are also known in English as "postpositions". In Linguistics, the term particle is a word lacking a strict definition but has the function of changing the relation of the parts of the sentence to one another and is therefore In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. Examples include 는 (neun, topic marker) and 를 (reul, object marker). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean particles.

Interjection

Korean interjections (감탄사, gamtansa, 感歎詞) are also known in English as "exclamations". An interjection is a Part of speech that usually has no connection with the rest of the sentence and simply expresses Emotion on the part of the speaker Examples include 아니 (ani, "no"). For a larger list, see wikt:Category:Korean interjections.

Number

Korean numbers (수사, susa, 數詞) are also known in English as "numerals". A number is an Abstract object, tokens of which are Symbols used in Counting and measuring.

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 Korean language reflects the important observance of a speaker or writer's relationships with both the subject of the sentence and the audience The relationship between speaker/writer and subject referent is reflected in honorifics, while that between speaker/writer and audience is reflected in speech level. An honorific is a word or expression that conveys esteem or respect when 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. Nowadays, there are special endings which can be used on declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences; and both honorific or normal sentences. They are made for easier and faster use of Korean.

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. The word paradigm ( Greek:παράδειγμα (paradigmacomposite from para- and the verb δείχνυμι "to show" as a whole -roughly- meaning "example" Unlike honorifics — which are used to show respect towards the referent — speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience. An honorific is a word or expression that conveys esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person 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. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated "

The highest 6 levels are generally grouped together as jondaenmal (존댓말), while the lowest level (haeche, 해체) is 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, either

• directly borrowed from Written Chinese, or
• coined in Japan or Korea using Chinese characters. Sino-Korean or hanja-eo refers to the set of words in the Korean language vocabulary that originated from or were influenced by the Chinese language. Written Chinese comprises the written symbols used to represent Spoken Chinese and the rules about how they are arranged and punctuated A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

Korean has two number systems: one native, and one borrowed from the Chinese. The Korean language has two regularly used sets of numerals a Sino-Korean system and a native Korean system

To a much lesser extent, words have also occasionally been borrowed from Mongolian, Sanskrit, and other languages. The Mongolian language (mn [[ImageMonggol kelesvg 17px]] Mongɣol kele, Cyrillic: Монгол хэл Mongol khel) is the best-known member of Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical 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 (areubaiteu ‘part-time job’, allereugi ‘allergy’) and more recently English. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Most of the many Languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European Language family. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States 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. An exonym (from Greek el ἔξω exo = out el ὄνομα onoma = name is a name for a place that is not used within that place by the local 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. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana 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 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. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated Hyangchal (literally vernacular letters or local letters) is an archaic writing system of Korea and was used to transcribe the Korean language Gugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. Idu is an archaic Writing system which represents the Korean language using Hanja. Korean mixed script is a form of writing that uses both Hangul (an alphabetical script and Hanja (Chinese characters Korean romanization is a system for representing the Korean language using the Roman alphabet 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 The Yale romanizations are four systems created during World War II for use by United States military personnel. 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 A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( Hyangchal (literally vernacular letters or local letters) is an archaic writing system of Korea and was used to transcribe the Korean language Idu is an archaic Writing system which represents the Korean language using Hanja. Knowledge of such systems were lost, and the Korean language was not written at all; the aristocracy used Classical Chinese for its writing. Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of Written Chinese based on the Grammar and Vocabulary of ancient Chinese

Korean is now mainly written in hangul, the Korean alphabet promulgated in 1446 by Sejong the Great; hanja may be mixed in to write Sino-Korean words. Korean mixed script is a form of writing that uses both Hangul (an alphabetical script and Hanja (Chinese characters Sino-Korean or hanja-eo refers to the set of words in the Korean language vocabulary that originated from or were influenced by the Chinese language. 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	p	t	ʨ	k	p͈	t͈	ʨ͈	k͈	pʰ	tʰ	ʨʰ	kʰ	s	h	s͈	m	n	ŋ	w	r	j

Vowels

Hangul	ㅣ	ㅔ	ㅚ	ㅐ	ㅏ	ㅗ	ㅜ	ㅓ	ㅡ	ㅢ	ㅖ	ㅒ	ㅑ	ㅛ	ㅠ	ㅕ	ㅟ	ㅞ	ㅙ	ㅘ	ㅝ
RR	i	e	oe	ae	a	o	u	eo	eu	ui	ye	yae	ya	yo	yu	yeo	wi	we	wae	wa	wo
IPA	i	e	ø	ɛ	a	o	u	ʌ	ɯ	ɰi	je	jɛ	ja	jo	ju	jʌ	wi	we	wɛ	wa	wʌ

Modern Korean is written with spaces between words, a feature not found in Chinese or Japanese. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic In writing a space () is a blank area that is devoid of content which separates words letters numbers and punctuation A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic 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 article: Korean language North-South differences

The Korean language used in the North and the South exhibits differences in pronunciation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary. The North-South differences in the Korean language refers to the differences in the Korean language used in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea; ^[9]

Pronunciation

In North Korea, palatalization of /si/ is optional, and /ʨ/ can be pronounced as [z] in between vowels. Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process

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

Word	Meaning	Pronunciation
		North (RR/MR)	North (hangul)	South (RR/MR)	South (hangul)
넓다	wide	neoptta (nŏpta)	넙따	neoltta (nŏlta)	널따
읽고	to read (continuative form)	ilkko (ilko)	일꼬	ilkko (ilko)	일꼬
압록강	Amnok River	amrokgang (amrokkang)	암록깡	amnokkang (amnokkang)	암녹깡
독립	independence	dongrip (tongrip)	동립	dongnip (tongnip)	동닙
관념	idea / sense / conception	gwallyeom (kwallyŏm)	괄렴	gwannyeom (kwannyŏm)	관념
혁신적*	innovative	hyeoksinjjeok (hyŏksintchŏk)	혁씬쩍	hyeoksinjeok (hyŏksinjŏk)	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. The Yalu River ( Chinese) or the Amnok River ( Korean) is a River on the border between China and North Korea. (In the South, this rule only applies when it is attached to any single-character Sino-Korean word. )

Spelling

Some words are spelled 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. Hallasan is a Shield volcano on Jeju Island of South Korea. Hallasan is the highest Mountain of South Korea
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. Kim Il-sung ( 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in early Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born 16 February 1941 Vyatskoye, Soviet Union; official biographies state 16 February 1942 Baekdu
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. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la
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. Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар is the Capital and largest city of Mongolia. Copenhagen (ˌkəʊpənˈheɪgən ˌkəʊpənˈhɑːgən ˈkəʊpənˌheɪgən ˈkəʊpənˌhɑːgən kʰøb̥ənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn is the capital and largest city Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt.	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, 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. Guillemets ( or after French) also called Angle quotes, are line segments pointed as if arrows ( « or ») sometimes forming a complementary

Study by non-native speakers

The United States' Defense Language Institute classifies Korean alongside Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese as a Category IV language, meaning that 63 weeks of instruction (as compared to just 25 weeks for French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian) are required to bring an English-speaking student to a limited working level of profiency in which he or she has "sufficient capability to meet routine social demands and limited job requirements" and "can deal with concrete topics in past, present, and future tense. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Defense Language Institute ( DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD educational and research institution which provides linguistic and cultural Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. "^[10] As a result, the study of the Korean language in the United States is dominated by Korean American heritage language students; they are estimated to form over 80% of all students of the language at non-military universities. Korean Americans ( Korean: ko 한국계 미국인 Hanja: ko 韓國系美國人 hangukgye migugin) are Americans of Korean origin ^[11]

However, Korean is considerably easier for speakers of certain other languages, such as Japanese; in Japan, it is more widely studied by non-heritage learners. ^[12] The Korean Language Proficiency Test, an examination aimed at assessing non-native speakers' competence in Korean, was instituted in 1997; 17,000 people applied for the 2005 sitting of the examination. ^[13]

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 vocabulary
• Korean mixed script
• List of English words of Korean origin
• Altaic hypothesis
• List of Korea-related topics
• Vowel harmony

References

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
• Linguistic map of Korea
• Korean vocabulary
• Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean
• Free course on line in English of Korean, another course

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