The Korean Language (Cambridge Language Surveys)

Cambridge Language Surveys

by Ho-Min Sohn

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the linguistics of Korean. It presents essential facts about the its speakers, its relation to other languages of the world, historical development, dialects (including the differences between South and North Korean), writing systems, the composition and structure of words, and sound patterns and syntax. It provides a wealth of examples and user-friendly descriptions that do not presuppose advanced knowledge of either linguistic theory or Korean on the part of the reader.

Genres: Linguistics

468 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 1999

Reviews

[Manny]

Buying this book was part of my current attempt to learn something about Korean. However, if I am to be honest, I learned very little from it. What really helped was an intensive week of study with Kyonghee, when she visited Cambridge last year.

As many people had told me, the grammar of Korean is similar to that of Japanese; quite strikingly so, given that nearly all the words are different. No one has a good explanation for this - it's one of the great mysteries of linguistics - though there are many theories. The account that appeals to me most is that Japanese is a Korean/Polynesian creole. I was disappointed when I discovered that there were hardly any Hawaiian words that seemed close to Japanese ones. The best example I found was Kamepua'a (Hawaiian pig-god), which does sound rather a lot like kami-buta (literally "pig-god" in Japanese). A hundred more anecdotes like this one, and I might start to believe seriously in the creole theory.

Korean's politeness system makes the Japanese one look crude in comparison. There are apparently six levels of politeness still in common use, plus a seventh "only used for talking to gods and very superior beings". Probably more frequent in North Korea, then? The book goes into considerable detail about the levels of politeness suitable for conversations between different family members. It seems like things have become more relaxed over the last fifty years, and that the improved status of women in society is being reflected in the rapidly changing politeness rules.

[Alexandra]

really good for insight info about Korean;
not really good if you want to learn the language for real;
plus i hate this 'academic' way of spelling Korean characters bleeh