ANALYSIS ON THE KOREAN LANGUAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Brief introduction of the Korean language
2. Korean alphabet
3. Word and phrase level analysis
4. Sentence level analysis
5. Activities
6. Sources

1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE KOREAN LANGUAGE

Korean is one of the world's oldest languages of this world. Linguistics from the Nineteenth Century have
proposed a number of theories that linked the Korean language with Ural-Altaic family language which
includes other languages like Mongolian, Finnish, or Hungarian.
Nowadays the Korean language is spoken by more than 75 million people, of whom 48 million live in South
Korea and 24 million in North Korea. The two Koreas differ in minor matters of spelling, alphabetization, and
vocabulary choice (including the names of the letters), but both essentially endorse the unified standards
proposed by the Korean Language Society in 1933. We are going to analyze the standard variety of the Korean
from South Korea.

2. KOREAN ALPHABET
The modern name for the Korean alphabet is Hangul (한글). There are 24 letters in
the Korean alphabet: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The letters are combined
together into syllable units like we do in spanish. However, they form blocks
with those letters instead of writing them horizontally.

3. WORD AND PHRASE LEVEL ANALYSIS

The Korean language contains several markers which indicates the function of a sentence: subject, predicator,
adjective, etc. These markers are attached at end of words.

● Subject markers: indicate the subject

● Object markers: indicate the object
● predicator markers: indicate the verb and the level of speech (formal and informal)

4. SENTENCE LEVEL ANALYSIS

One of the most challenging parts about learning the Korean language, is its sentence structure. It is also the
part where some of the Korean language learners get confused easily. For those who are not yet aware, the
Korean language sentence structure is completely different from that of the English language. Sentence
structure is how words or phrases are put together in a language.
If you are learning the Korean language, you may find that their sentences cannot be translated word by word in
English. Otherwise, you will get a different meaning.
We will discuss the top three basic Korean sentence structures that some Korean language learners are confused
about.
1. SOV (subject+object+verb)
 We have to clearly differentiate the English sentence structure from that of the Korean sentence
structure first. In English, we have the Subject-Verb-Object (S-V-O) pattern. For example: “I washed
the dishes”. The word “I” is the subject while the word “washed” is the action word and “dishes” is
clearly the object. If you translate it into Korean, it will be: “I the dishes washed”. This is the most
common sentence structures in Korean language.

2. SV (subject+verb)
This sentence pattern is similar with English. So, it is not difficult to create a sentence using this
particular sentence pattern. Sometimes people just want to say what action they are doing and the
context is not necessary at all. For instance, when you ask somebody this question: “What does Anna
do every morning?”, you can reply by saying: “She cooks”. There is no need to explain further your
answer. It is a direct answer to the question.
3. SA(subject+adjective)
As we all know, adjectives are used to describe nouns or pronouns. In Korean language, it is a typical
sentence pattern. The S+A sentence pattern is also similar with English. That is why, when you
translate the sentences from English to Korean with S+A pattern, the structure of the sentences are still
the same, unlike the S+O+V pattern. When learning the Korean language, you have to clearly
understand that every Korean sentence must end with either a verb or an adjective. It is a very
important rule in Korean language sentence structure.

5. ACTIVITIES
*In the powerpoint
6. SOURCES
https://asiasociety.org/education/korean-language
https://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Korean-language
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/Korean3.html
https://www.koreanlanguageguide.com/basic-korean-sentence-structures/
https://www.howtostudykorean.com/
http://www.lingvozone.com/Korean
https://domandhyo.com/2016/02/particles-in-korean.html
The Korean language : Structure, Use and Context - Jae Jung Song S. Robert Ramsey 2005 (https://puntoq-ull-
es.accedys2.bbtk.ull.es/primo-explore/fulldisplay?
docid=ullsfx1000000000254888&context=L&vid=ull&lang=es_ES&search_scope=ull_sfxebooks&adaptor=L
ocal%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,korean%20language&offset=0)
Korean honorifics and politeness in second language learning - Lucien Brown B. Walter 2011
(https://puntoq-ull-es.accedys2.bbtk.ull.es/primo-explore/fulldisplay?
docid=ullsfx2550000000032554&context=L&vid=ull&lang=es_ES&search_scope=ull_sfxebooks&adaptor=L
ocal%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,korean%20language&offset=0)