History of the Korean language
Encyclopedia
The Korean language
is attested from the early centuries of the Common Era in Chinese script. The featural hangul
script is only introduced in the Middle Korean period, in the 15th century.
The periodization of the historical stages of Korean is as follows:
. Korean being a language isolate
, "Proto-Korean" is not a well-defined term, referring to the language spoken in Prehistoric Korea
during the Bronze and Iron Age.
The classification of Korean as Altaic was introduced by Gustaf John Ramstedt
(1928), but even within the Altaic hypothesis, the position of Korean relative to Japonic is unclear. A possible Korean-Japonic grouping within Altaic has been discussed by Samuel E. Martin, Roy Andrew Miller
and Sergei Starostin
, but others, notably Alexander Vovin
, interpret the affinities between Korean and Japanese as a sprachbund
effect.
to the latter part of the Unified Silla period
, approximately from 1st to 10th century. Phonological writing in Idu script develops by the 6th century.
It is unclear whether Old Korean may have been a tonal language. It is assumed that Old Korean was divided into dialects, corresponding to the three kingdoms. These hypothetical subdivisions of Old Korean are also known as Buyeo languages
. Of these, the Silla language
is the best attested due to the political domination of Unified Silla
by the 7th century.
Only some literary records of Unified Silla, changed into Goryeo text, are extant and some texts (written in their native Writing system) of the Three kingdoms period are mostly available in form of inscriptions at present. Thus, the languages of the Three Kingdoms period are generally examined through official government names and local district names.
The point at which Old Korean became Middle Korean is assessed variously by different scholars. The line is sometimes drawn in the late Goryeo dynasty, and sometimes around the 15th century in the early Joseon Dynasty
. But it is usually thought that Middle Korea started at the establishment of Goryeo, and the standard language of Old Korean was changed from the Silla dialect to the Goryeo dialect.
There is very little literature for research of Old Korean. The first texts in Old Korean written using hanja to represent the sound and grammar of the local language.
Additional information about the language is drawn from various proper nouns recorded in Korean and Chinese records, and from etymological studies of the Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters.
Various systems were used, beginning with ad hoc approaches and gradually becoming codified in the scribal idu system and the hyangchal
system used for poetry. These were arrangements of Chinese characters to represent the language phonetically, much like the Japanese kana
.
Middle Korean (중세국어, 中世國語) corresponds to Korean spoken from the 10th to 16th centuries, or from the era of Goryeo
to the middle of Joseon
.
The language standard of this period is based on the dialect of Gaeseong because the new Goryeo Dynasty moved its capital city to the north area of the Korean peninsula
.
One of the main sources for information on Middle Korean is the Gyerim Ryusa (계림류사, 鷄林類事), a collection of several hundred items of Korean vocabulary with the pronunciation indicated through the use of hanja written in 1103. Anyone studying this work must of course be aware of the limits in the hanja's ability to transcribe foreign sounds.
The Hunminjeongeum (lit. The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People), original name of Hangul
, was made in 1443, and promulgated in September or October 1446 by Sejong the Great, the 4th king of the Joseon Dynasty
.
Hunminjeongeum was an entirely new and native script for the Korean people. The script was initially named after the publication, but later came to be known as hangul. It was created so that the common people illiterate in hanja could accurately and easily read and write the Korean language. Its supposed publication date, October 9, is now the "Hangul Day
" in South Korea
.
Over the decades following the Korean War
and the division of Korea
, North–South differences in the Korean language have developed, including variances in pronunciation, verb inflection and vocabulary.
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
is attested from the early centuries of the Common Era in Chinese script. The featural hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
script is only introduced in the Middle Korean period, in the 15th century.
The periodization of the historical stages of Korean is as follows:
- Before 1st century: Proto-Korean
- 1st to 10th century: Old Korean (Three Kingdoms of KoreaThree Kingdoms of KoreaThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...
period) - 10th to 16th century: Middle Korean
- 17th century to present: Modern Korean
Proto-Korean
Controversy remains over the proposed classification of Korean as AltaicAltaic languages
Altaic is a proposed language family that includes the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Japonic language families and the Korean language isolate. These languages are spoken in a wide arc stretching from northeast Asia through Central Asia to Anatolia and eastern Europe...
. Korean being a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
, "Proto-Korean" is not a well-defined term, referring to the language spoken in Prehistoric Korea
Prehistoric Korea
The Prehistoric Korea is the era of human existence in the Korean Peninsula for which written records did not exist. It, however, constitutes the greatest segment of the Korean past and is the major object of study in the disciplines of archaeology, geology, and...
during the Bronze and Iron Age.
The classification of Korean as Altaic was introduced by Gustaf John Ramstedt
Gustaf John Ramstedt
Gustaf John Ramstedt was a Swedish-speaking Finnish linguist and diplomat.-Biography:Ramstedt was born in Ekenäs in Southern Finland....
(1928), but even within the Altaic hypothesis, the position of Korean relative to Japonic is unclear. A possible Korean-Japonic grouping within Altaic has been discussed by Samuel E. Martin, Roy Andrew Miller
Roy Andrew Miller
Roy Andrew Miller is a linguist notable for his advocacy of Korean and Japanese as members of the Altaic group of languages....
and Sergei Starostin
Sergei Starostin
Dr. Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin was a Russian historical linguist and scholar, best known for his work with hypothetical proto-languages, including his work on the reconstruction of the Proto-Borean language, the controversial theory of Altaic languages and the formulation of the Dené–Caucasian...
, but others, notably Alexander Vovin
Alexander Vovin
Alexander V. Vovin is an American linguist and philologist in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, where he is a Professor of East Asian Languages and the acting chair of the department from August 1, 2009.Alexander Vovin earned his M.A...
, interpret the affinities between Korean and Japanese as a sprachbund
Sprachbund
A Sprachbund – also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads – is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related...
effect.
Old Korean
Old Korean (고대국어, 古代國語) corresponds to the Korean language from the beginning of Three Kingdoms periodThree Kingdoms of Korea
The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...
to the latter part of the Unified Silla period
Unified Silla
Unified Silla or Later Silla is the name often applied to the Korean kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, when it conquered Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, unifying the southern portion of the Korean peninsula...
, approximately from 1st to 10th century. Phonological writing in Idu script develops by the 6th century.
It is unclear whether Old Korean may have been a tonal language. It is assumed that Old Korean was divided into dialects, corresponding to the three kingdoms. These hypothetical subdivisions of Old Korean are also known as Buyeo languages
Buyeo languages
Buyeo or Fuyu languages are a hypothetical language family that consists of ancient languages of the northern Korean Peninsula and southern Manchuria and possibly Japan. According to Chinese records, the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Dongye, Okjeo, Baekje—and possibly Gojoseon—were similar...
. Of these, the Silla language
Silla language
The Silla language, was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Silla , one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.It is unclear if Silla was related to other languages of the Korean peninsula, such as Baekje and Goguryeo, which are sometimes grouped together as the Buyeo languages...
is the best attested due to the political domination of Unified Silla
Unified Silla
Unified Silla or Later Silla is the name often applied to the Korean kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, when it conquered Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, unifying the southern portion of the Korean peninsula...
by the 7th century.
Only some literary records of Unified Silla, changed into Goryeo text, are extant and some texts (written in their native Writing system) of the Three kingdoms period are mostly available in form of inscriptions at present. Thus, the languages of the Three Kingdoms period are generally examined through official government names and local district names.
The point at which Old Korean became Middle Korean is assessed variously by different scholars. The line is sometimes drawn in the late Goryeo dynasty, and sometimes around the 15th century in the early Joseon Dynasty
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
. But it is usually thought that Middle Korea started at the establishment of Goryeo, and the standard language of Old Korean was changed from the Silla dialect to the Goryeo dialect.
There is very little literature for research of Old Korean. The first texts in Old Korean written using hanja to represent the sound and grammar of the local language.
Additional information about the language is drawn from various proper nouns recorded in Korean and Chinese records, and from etymological studies of the Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters.
Various systems were used, beginning with ad hoc approaches and gradually becoming codified in the scribal idu system and the hyangchal
Hyangchal
Hyangchal is an archaic writing system of Korea and was used to transcribe the Korean language in hanja. Under the hyangchal system, Chinese characters were given a Korean reading based on the syllable associated with the character. The hyangchal writing system is often classified as a...
system used for poetry. These were arrangements of Chinese characters to represent the language phonetically, much like the Japanese kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
.
Middle Korean
Goryeo
The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
to the middle of Joseon
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
.
The language standard of this period is based on the dialect of Gaeseong because the new Goryeo Dynasty moved its capital city to the north area of the Korean peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...
.
One of the main sources for information on Middle Korean is the Gyerim Ryusa (계림류사, 鷄林類事), a collection of several hundred items of Korean vocabulary with the pronunciation indicated through the use of hanja written in 1103. Anyone studying this work must of course be aware of the limits in the hanja's ability to transcribe foreign sounds.
The Hunminjeongeum (lit. The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People), original name of Hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
, was made in 1443, and promulgated in September or October 1446 by Sejong the Great, the 4th king of the Joseon Dynasty
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
.
Hunminjeongeum was an entirely new and native script for the Korean people. The script was initially named after the publication, but later came to be known as hangul. It was created so that the common people illiterate in hanja could accurately and easily read and write the Korean language. Its supposed publication date, October 9, is now the "Hangul Day
Hangul Day
Hangul Day — also called Hangul Proclamation Day or Korean Alphabet Day — is a Korean national commemorative day marking the invention and the proclamation of hangul , the native alphabet of the Korean language, by King Sejong the Great. It is observed on October 9 in South Korea and on...
" in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
Modern Korean
Modern Korean corresponds to Korean spoken from the 17th century onward.Over the decades following the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and the division of Korea
Division of Korea
The division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year colonial rule of Korea. In a proposal opposed by nearly all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship...
, North–South differences in the Korean language have developed, including variances in pronunciation, verb inflection and vocabulary.