People
Koreans are generally considered descendants of two strains≪Athe nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Aryan Migrants from central and western Asia. At any rate, it is believed that the forebears of Koreans are migrants from the north who moved to the peninsula some 4,300 years ago. Koreans are predominantly Mongoloid, but they have both Occidental and Oriental characteristics. They are homogenious race some-what distinct from both the Chinese and the Japanese. They have wide foreheads similar to those of the Shantung Chinese and some Japanese. In this respect, they differ from the Tungus and Mongols. They are, however, brachycephalic, and it is in this respect that the Koreans resemble the Tungus and Mongols more than they do the Shantung Chinese and Japanese.
Koreans have lighter skin than Chinese and Japanese and this suggests the possibility that they are of some strain of white-skinned ethnic stock from the West. It could be inferred that the present-day Koreans descended from several peoples, of whom the Shantung Chinese, Tungus and Mongols were predominant. The distinctive physical structure of the Koreans appears not to have been affected appreciably by the close contacts with the Chinese over thousands of years. The Koreans also have developed and preserved a distinctive cultural heritage of their own, despite the great cultural influences of the Chinese over the centuries.
Language
The origin of the Korean language has not been established definitively, though it derives from the Tungustic branch of the Ural-Altaic family which traces its ancestry to Central Asia. But in as much as the Korean people are primarily of Mongolian origin, having migrated from Siberian and Manchurian regions into the Korean peninsula, it is inferred that Korean language is somewhat related to Manchu or Mongolian. But the fact is that Korean and Mongolian are found much more apart from each other, both in vocabulary and syntax, than are English and German, or English and French. The generally accepted theory indicates that the archtype of the Korean language was developed in the southern part of the peninsula among agrarian tribes. Another developed among the northern Koguryo Kingdom when the four colonies of Han of China were established in Korea.
It is certain that Chinese language and letters greatly influenced the language. Korean grammar, however, is entirely different from the Chinese. Korean language has simple forms to express different tenses and modes such as indicative, conditional, imperative and infinitive, etc. It has forms to express all those more delicate verbal relations which in English requires a circumlocution or the use of various adverbs. The difference between Korean and Chinese language is that Korean is strictly phonetic in writing whereas Chinese is not. The grammatic structure of Korean language is regular and simple. Forms consist of stems plus endings. While a single stem may occur in many forms, it remains almost constant in all of them. There are also many word endings that cannot be expressed. The use of particles and inflectionary endings is wider in Korean than in Manchu or Mongolian. Even Japanese has fewer particles and different endings than Korean. It should also be noted that the formation of compounds by connecting stems is very extensive.
In the Korean language, there are no articles, i.e. “the” or “a.” There is no change in the ending of noun for singular or plural. Neither is there any sharp discrimination of gender in the personal pronoun. Verbs have no special distinction for third person, singular or plural. On the other hand, the Korean adjectives have conjugations like verbs. Order of words in the clause or sentence in Korean is subject, object and verb; qualifying elements precede the objects qualified; dependent clauses precede independent clauses. The Korean language is rich in sound, and there are 10 primary vowels, as well as secondary or derived vowels.
In the Korean language, the function of euphony is conspicuous. Euphony is the distinctive characteristic of Korean language. The Korean language, however, became complicated by the wide use of “honorifics” in accordance with the complex social order of Korea. Another characteristic feature of the Korean language is that it possesses a large vocabulary, not only for expressions of concrete things but for presentations of subtle human feelings and sentiments. It is, however, short of words pertaining to abstract reasoning and logical thinking. This renders it extremely difficult for a translator to interpret Korean into a foreign language word for word and vice versa.
The main dialects of Korean are northern Korean and southern Korean. Korean spoken in Seoul is regarded as the standard spoken language. During the past several hundred years, the normal evolution of Korean as an independent and original language has been hindered much by two developments. Chief among them was the discouragement of the use of native tongue by Confucian influences that encouraged the use of Chinese letters. The other hindrance was the policy of the Japanese colonial rule which attempted systematically to destroy the Korean language. Since liberation in 1945, however, there have been movements aimed at refining and standardizing Han-gul.
Han-gul
There are historical evidences, though uncorroborated, that suggest that ancient Koreans used their own system of writings. Some scholars regard inscriptions on the stone walls in Namhae inland as ancient Korean characters. The Samguksagi (history of the Three Kingdoms) says : “letters were first used in the beginning of the Koguryo Kingdom.” Notwithstanding the historical evidence, it is true that the Koreans wrote exclusively in Chinese characters until the 15th century. Then in 1443, King Sejong of the Chosun Dynasty, with the help of several scholars (Chong In-ji, Song Sam-mun and Shin Suk-chu), invented a phonetic alphabet called Han-gul which has since been in use.
The Korean alphabet is so simple that anybody can master it. In a Korean encyclopedia compiled in about 1770, a reference was made to the simplicity of Han-gul, saying that “the possibility of interchanging letters is unlimitedly simple, but that the language is very efficiently neat and comprehensive enough for any combinations.” The Korean alphabet consisted originally of 28 letters, according to Hunminjongum, the book of the authorized alphabet first promulgated. It was reduced later to 24 letters. In the Korean alphabet there are 10 vowels (originally 11) and 14 consonants. Two principles were followed in devising the forms of vowels and consonants. The 14 consonants symbolize either the organs of speech or the manner of articulation. The 11 vowels are devised to symbolize heaven, earth and man, the three elements constituting the universe in the Oriental view of the universe.
By taking a consonant sound like K and putting it before each of the vowels, various syllables begin to take shape. If the syllable should begin with a vowel sound, the consonant NG precedes the vowel. The NG has no sound when used in that way. The shape of the vowel determines whether the consonant should be placed above it or to the left of it. Currently 24 letters are in use. They represent the phonemes of the Korean language. ª¡ (k or g), ª¤ (n), ª§ (t or d), ªⓒ (r or l), ª± (m), ª² (p or b), ªμ (s), ª¸ (ch or j), ªº (ch or ch), ª≫ (k or k), ª¼ (t or t), ª½ (p or p), ª¾ (h), ª·(ng), ª¿ (a), ªA (ya), ªA(o), ªA (yo), ªC (o), ªE (yo), ªI (u), ªÐ (yu), ªN (u), ªO(i)(See the New Romanization System for Korean Words) In the Hunminjongum, 28 original letters were classified as follows :17 consonants (initial sounds) ;
Molar(ª¡, ª½, ª·)
Lingual(ª§, ª¼, ª¤)
Labial(ª², ª½, ª±)
Dental(ª¸, ªº, ªμ)
Glottal( , ª¾, ª·)
Semi-lingual(ªⓒ)
Semi-dental(¡I)
11 vowels(medial sounds); ª¿ ªA ªA ªA ªC ªE ªI ªÐ ªN ªO