Can you do Korean??
I can indeed!
My apologies for the extended hiatus. The holidays and subsequent work had me busy and a tad lacking in energy! This post was admittedly a bit difficult to craft, as I have never seriously studied Korean in the past. I wanted to be sure to provide a decent embrace of the language, which meant poring through Korean history and falling down a couple of proto-language rabbit-holes, which I'll get into in a bit. This post also admittedly turned into a general history post in the middle. Anyway, enjoy!
~KOREAN~ (한국어 or 韓國語)
한국어 (romanized in the South as "hangug-eo" and in the North as "han'gugŏ") can be translated as "language of Korea" (a fitting description - it's precisely that!). As far as linguists are concerned, Korean is, besides the Jeju language, considered a language isolate. What this means is that Korean has no known (that is, proven) immediate relatives, being the sole known member of a “Koreanic” language family. However, attempts have been made to connect Korean to a broader "Altaic" family, a controversial theory which has little mainstream support within the linguistic field, that links the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages to Korean, Japanese, and even Ainu (some proponents of the theory even throw Basque and Georgian in).
About 79,300,000 people around the world speak Korean natively, with the largest share of these speakers residing on the Korean Peninsula. The largest Korean-speaking community outside of Korea is located in the United States, where it is spoken mostly in immigrant communities in places like Hawaiʻi, on the west and east coasts, and in major urban areas (like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago).
You'll notice up in the title that I included some traditional Chinese characters. In fact, prior to the development of the current writing system - Hangeul (한글)/Chosŏn'gŭl (조선글) - in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, these Chinese characters were used to write the Korean language (Note: in 1443, Korean was still in its "Middle Korean" phase, so some sounds - and therefore characters - have fallen out of use since). These Chinese characters are known as Hanja (한자/漢字), a word that still literally means "Chinese characters" in both Korean and Chinese (to clarify, the word is hànzì in Mandarin, but the characters are the same (at least in traditional environments)). Literacy in Hanja was never widespread, and Hangeul was developed to remedy this and promote widespread literacy in the Korean language. It faced opposition for the first hundred or so years of its existence, mainly from scholars who were proficient in Hanja and worried about their social status being called into question. Despite this opposition, it enjoyed widespread success in broader society, including amongst women (which, in the face of a patriarchal Confucian societal order, was quite a girl-boss moment). Every October 9th in South Korea, Hangeul is celebrated during a national holiday known as "Hangeul Day".
For representing Korean in the Latin alphabet, several systems, collectively known as "romaja" (in hangeul: 로마자; in hanja: 로마字), have been developed. The most widely used romanization system for Korean is known as Revised Romanization (RR), adopted by the South Korean government in the year 2000. In the North, a different romanization system known as McCune-Reischauer (MR) is used. There are a few key differences between the two systems - MR includes breves and apostrophes to indicate certain vowels and syllable boundaries, respectively, whereas RR favors adding an "e" to said vowels and favors hyphens over apostrophes. There are a few other romanization systems, but these two systems are better for representing the spoken language more accurately.
Korea's culture has the ability to endlessly fascinate, with many instantly recognizable hallmarks such as traditional architecture, dress styles, food, film, television... and how could I forget music? (Please understand that I can't cover the entire corpus of Korean media in this one post - after all, this is a blog dedicated to linguistics.) Korea's modern culture still fits quite harmoniously into its more ancient culture (indeed, it's one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world), particularly in the way art is informed by and builds upon older expressions. Korean language and culture have been influenced heavily by that of its neighbors, China and Japan (일본), but remains fundamentally distinct from either; while ideas and concepts have flowed into the peninsula from far afield (e.g., India (인도) and Tibet (뵈)), Korea has done an amazing job at remaining characteristically Korean.
Just how ancient are Korea's roots? Where did the Koreans come from? Genealogy studies point to an origin somewhere in the north of the peninsula, or even further afield, though likely in Manchuria (만주), a region in what is today northeast China (종궈), as well. Though linguistics and genealogy usually have shockingly little to do with each other, this may explain some ancient linguistic borrowings from then-neighboring cultures, like the Mongols (for a large period of history, however, it was difficult NOT to have contact with the Mongols) and Tungusic peoples of northeastern Asia. This contact, at least at the surface, lends itself to the Proto-Altaic theory, but my official stance is still anti-Proto-Altaic (though I'm happy to be proven wrong given further evidence).
Korean culture has remained remarkably consistent, with hallmarks of the culture such as the hanbok (한복)/chosŏn-ot (조선옷) having remained more or less the same since the era of the Yemaek (예맥) people, a tribal group which can be considered "Proto-Korean". According to a legendary account known as the Samguk Yusa (삼국유사), written in the 1280s, the oldest country-type-thing that can be considered "Korea" was the Gojoseon kingdom (고조선), founded in northern Korea and Manchuria in 2333 BCE, having descended from heaven (this founding date/myth is based on... well, not much evidence, but who am I, some Westerner, to say it's incorrect?).
DISCLAIMER: I'm about to go over a ton of Korean history, which can get confusing.
To the south, the Jin state developed around 300 BCE. We don't know much about this state besides its trade relations with the neighbors. The Gojoseon kingdom stuck around for quite some time, eventually experiencing turmoil during the 2nd century BCE, bringing about the establishment of four Chinese Han dynasty commanderies where Gojoseon once stood. Only one lasted longer than a few decades (the Lelang Commandery), which eventually fell to Goguryeo in 313 CE. Shortly after the establishment of the commanderies, the Jin state developed into Samhan (삼한), which translates to "three Hans". This was a group of confederacies that eventually coalesced into the Three Kingdoms: Baekje (백제), Goguryeo (고구려), and Silla (신라). Each of these kingdoms had their own dialect of Korean, though these are quite sparsely attested besides that of later Silla.
Where Gojoseon once stood, there now (that is, between about 100 BCE and 300 CE) existed several smaller states. The most influential of these was Buyeo (부여), a disunited state that expanded at the expense of other small states in the region, like Okjeo (옥저) and Ye (예). In 57 BCE, six chiefdoms in the southeast of the peninsula were united under Hyeokgeose (혁거세) to form the kingdom of Silla. In about 37 BCE (or, according to North Korea, in 277 BCE), a kingdom was founded in the north and central parts of the peninsula called Goguryeo, which would eventually expand to include vast portions of Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, rivalling the other kingdoms to the south. Goguryeo is the ultimate source of the name "Korea", and many successive states on the peninsula would claim that they were the rightful successors of Goguryeo.
To the south, the third son of a Goguryeo king, Onjo (온조왕), founded Baekje in 18 BCE, claiming continuity with Buyeo. Baekje played a massive role in regional trade, bringing such fundamental institutions as Chinese characters and Buddhism to Japan. In 42 CE, in the south, the Gaya confederacy came into being through an agreement between various small kingdoms. It was never able to coalesce into a kingdom, owing to larger neighbors constantly causing them grief. In 372 CE, Goguryeo, under King Sosurim (소수림왕), would adopt Buddhism (불교) as its state religion. Gwanggaeto the Great (광개토대왕) and his son Jangsu (장수왕), who reigned respectively from 391 to 413 and from 413 to 491, oversaw Goguryeo's golden age, driving the Chinese and Xianbeis out of Korea and unifying with (or rather, subduing) Baekje and Silla in the south. It was about this time that Korean language began to be more heavily influenced by Classical Chinese, especially in more formal settings. Over time, the balance of power on the peninsula shifted, and Silla began to eclipse the other two kingdoms in wealth and power. It annexed Gaya in 562, which further inflated its influence. By this time, the "idu script" had developed, the precursor script to Hanja. In 660, Silla, with help from the Tang dynasty, defeated and absorbed Baekje. After a coup and several other incursions by Silla and the Chinese, Goguryeo also collapsed in 668.
Are you with me so far? We only have about 1,300 years left to cover!
Next we have the Northern and Southern States Period (남북국시대), which lasted between 698 and 926. The "northern state" in this era was Balhae (발해), and the "southern state" was a unified Silla kingdom (통일신라). It was during this period that Old Korean evolved into Middle Korean (the year 918 is the generally agreed-upon boundary). Balhae was established by Dae Joyeong (대조영), also known as King Go (고왕), who was previously a Goguryeo general. Balhae encompassed, at its peak, a sizeable portion of Manchuria, most of modern North Korea, and a big chunk of Russia's Primorsky Krai. Silla laid claim to all lands to the south. During the Northern and Southern States Period, both kingdoms were remarkably advanced culturally and technologically, rivalling and at times surpassing their neighbors in China. Many Buddhist monasteries founded during this period are still in operation today, many of which are considered UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Towards the end of the Northern and Southern States Period, internal strife erupted within the two kingdoms, particularly in Silla, leading to the revival of Baekje and Goguryeo. During this period of decline, known as the Later Three Kingdoms period, Taejo Wang Geon (태조 왕건) founded the Goryeo dynasty in 918, and out of the ashes of the previous kingdoms, Goryeo rose up and consolidated power over most of what is today Korea. In classic Korean fashion, Wang Geon claimed Goryeo to be the successor state to Goguryeo. Buddhism again saw a flourishing during this period, reaching its influential zenith and being codified into a legal system which spread across the peninsula. During the Goryeo period, metal movable type was invented, the first of its kind in the world. In 1104, the Jilin leishi (鷄林類事) was written by Sun Mu (孫穆), a Song Chinese ambassador. This work is notable for providing information about the Early Middle phase of the Korean language, though it doesn't give as good of an insight into the phonology of the language at the time. We can, however, tell that Middle Korean did indeed have tones, like Chinese. Until its ultimate demise in 1392, Goryeo was at the cutting-edge of various technological advancements, including gunpowder weapons and paper. This level of technological prowess aided Goryeo in fending off such foreign assaults as that of the Chinese Liao dynasty and of the Mongols under Kublai Khan. In 1388, Yi Seong-gye (이성계) wrested control of Goryeo during a coup, and in 1392 founded the Joseon dynasty.
In 1392, Yi Seong-gye, also known by his regnal name of Taejo (태조) founded the Joseon dynasty (조선), which would last until 1897. He established the dynasty on Confucian (유교) values, perpetuated by a class of seonbi (선비), a scholarly elite class of public servants. During this period, the capital moved to its modern location - Hanyang (한양) (later renamed "Seoul" (서울)). Most modern dialects of Korean can trace their origin/divergence to the beginning of this era. Later in this period, the Korean language evolved into its Early Modern form, around the year 1600. In 1394, Neo-Confucianism was officially adopted as the state philosophy, which led to a strengthening of bureaucracy. Taejo's grandson, Sejong the Great (mentioned above), helped to usher in yet another golden age of education, science, and advancement in the arts, many achievements of which were unparalleled anywhere else in the world at the time.
Between 1592 and 1598, Japan invaded Korea under the command of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) in an aggressive expansionist plot to overrun vast swathes of the Asian mainland. This plot was ultimately thwarted, however, thanks in no small part to the military prowess of the Korean navy under Admiral Yi Sun-sin (이순신), whose turtle ships proved indispensable in the war effort. Two subsequent invasions, this time from the Manchu in the north, left Joseon reeling; however, this era was instrumental in the forging of the modern Korean national and ethnic identity. Into the 1800s, corruption and isolationism led Korea to be known as a "hermit kingdom", a title still used to disparage the DPRK. The peasantry of the nation suffered greatly under the thumb of corrupt government officials during this period. Inefficiency within the government dragged various processes into multi-generational efforts, such as the abolition of slavery (which took 93 years, ultimately being completed in 1894). Despite Korea's isolationist policy, there were several instances of American contact with Korea during the mid- to late-1800s - kept at arm's length, the Americans (usually shipwrecked in the rocky waters surrounding the peninsula) were treated hospitably and sent to China after a short while. Contact with the West during this period wasn't entirely fantastic, however - I urge you to look into incidents such as that of the General Sherman and the US campaign into Korea known locally as Shinmiyangyo (신미양요).
From about this time until after the Korean War, Korea's history is wrought with, to put it lightly, nastiness. Around the end of the Joseon dynasty, the Korean language entered its modern phase, which is an innovation broadly shared across the peninsula, at least up until the division of the Koreas in 1945. Across the sea in Japan, expansionist and imperialist ideas were taking hold, and Meiji Japan set its sights once more on the mainland. Japan defeated Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, drawing Korea into its sphere of influence. In 1910, after several more years of fighting, Japan formally annexed Korea into its empire. Japan proved to be a ruthless and destructive occupying force, instilling Japanese cultural and linguistic policies at the expense of the native Korean way of life. They committed atrocities against the populace (content warning for that hyperlink: discussions of SA), particularly against Korean women, many of whom are still alive today. These atrocities have not been acknowledged or apologized for by the Japanese government to this day. Koreans were forced to change their names to Japanese names (some say it wasn't mandatory, but merely strongly encouraged), and the Japanese utilized forced labor in camps and, in 1944, began drafting Koreans into their army.
Now for the elephant in the room: why do the North and South have separate standards for the same language? (This section is unfortunately also not all smiles and rainbows.) As much as I would love to chalk this up to general regionalized dialect differences (which do exist), it has everything to do with the protracted conflict on the Korean Peninsula between two fundamentally opposed ideologies, which manifest themselves as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the North and the Republic of Korea in the South. The DPRK's government espouses an official state ideology known as "Juche" (주체사상/主體思想 (MR: Chuch'e sasang), meaning literally "subject/consciousness idea"), which emphasizes self-reliance and sovereignty of the self and of the nation. While in development by Kim Il-sung (the DPRK's founder and first leader), it was initially regarded as a variant of Marxist-Leninist thought, but as a result of various alterations made by his son, Kim Jong-il, it should no longer be regarded as such, and care should be taken to distinguish Juche from other socialist ideologies.
During the Cold War era, the United States and its allies wanted to hold communism at bay, and the Korean War (known in the North as the "Fatherland Liberation War", in the South as the "625 War", and in the United States as the "Forgotten War") was one of many manifestations of this decades-long ideological conflict. The South, supported by the United States and its allies, fought a war with the North, supported by the Soviet Union, China, and their allies. Over the course of three years (from 1950 to 1953), the front lines moved up and down the peninsula, but even to this day the war has seen no formal end, and the two nations remain locked in "frozen conflict". The two Koreas do not recognize each other's sovereignty, and this has had various repercussions (whether directly or indirectly) for the state of the Korean language in either nation. Along with the examples of romanization mentioned above, there are many other differences in the spoken and written language. For example, as the DPRK's ideology espouses total self-reliance, their dialect is considered to be more "conservative" (not politically, but linguistically - this means that more native Korean terms have survived foreign influence and fewer foreign borrowings of vocabulary have been picked up by the population). In the ROK, many loanwords have been imported from foreign languages, particularly from English, and everyday speech is regarded as less formal in register.
Speaking of formality registers, did you know Korean has them? Seven of them, in fact, and speakers switch between them to alter how politely/formally they are perceived. These registers change depending on who you're talking to - are they older? Younger? About the same age? Royalty? Whatever the scenario, these registers have you covered. (As long as you use them properly, that is.)
Let's look deeper into the language itself - how is it structured? Korean sentences have basic "SOV" word order - that is, subject-object-verb, as opposed to English's subject-verb-object. Korean is also an agglutinative language - that is, it "glues" various grammatical particles onto words in order to convey meaning. Various particles are used to denote the subject/object of a sentence, the level of formality, and other grammatical functions necessary to convey the full meaning of a sentence. Below, I've borrowed a diagram from Lingodeer that breaks down word order with color-coding. To denote each portion of the sentence, a particle (such as 는 (neun), 에서 (eseo), etc.) is added to the base word (저 (jeo), 집 (jib), etc.) to facilitate understanding.
All of this may seem daunting at first for an English-speaking learner - a different writing system, a different grammar, wildly different vocabulary - but like any language, all it takes is exposure and consistent practice to master. The US State Department considers Korean a Category IV "super-hard" language, with the likes of Arabic, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin, but I personally don't subscribe to the notion that any one language is "harder" than any other. Sure, there's fewer familiar elements in these languages, but with enough exposure, it doesn't matter if you're learning Korean or Dutch, it will eventually fall into place. Patience is the name of the game! Trust in the process and you will see results. Perhaps you're planning a trip to Korea, perhaps you have Korean-speaking family members and want to connect with them, or perhaps you're a fan of Korean cinema or of Korean music and want to understand what's being said. Lucky for you, there's a wealth of resources both online and in print that facilitate the learning process. YouTube is full of Korean-language videos spanning many genres (from instructional videos to daily vlogs), and everyone's favorite owl has a course of his own available for free.
I would be interested in creating a separate post for the Jeju language if there is enough community interest, so please let me know if this is something you would be interested in! It's an often-ignored and critically endangered language spoken on Jeju-do, an island between South Korea and Japan, that has been developing in parallel with the Korean language for centuries and is thus mutually unintelligible with most mainland Korean dialects.
There's no possible way I can fit every facet of the language and the people who speak it into this one little post, so please let me know if you have any further language questions, either about Korean or any other language! Feel free to comment your favorite piece of Korean culture below.
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