Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:38:39.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Historical Background

from Part I - Background

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2019

Sungdai Cho  and
John Whitman
Sungdai Cho
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Binghamton
John Whitman
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

Chapter 2 outlines the history of the Korean language, starting from the internal reconstruction of proto-Korean through Old Korean, Middle Korean, Modern Korean and Contemporary Korean. Old Korean designates the language of Silla up until the end of the Unified Silla period in the tenth century. Middle Korean covers the Koryo (Early Middle Korean) and Choson (Late Middle Korean) periods up until the end of the sixteenth century. This relatively brief period has also seen events of great linguistic importance: the Japanese colonial period (1909 to 1945), which saw the importation of Japanese loans and loans from Western languages through Japanese; the Korean War, resulting in the division of the two Koreas; and finally the turbulent postwar period, which has seen the final disappearance of Chinese characters in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the near complete disappearance of them in the Republic of Korea, and the ever greater impact of neologisms and loans from electronic media and the internet.

Keywords

Old KoreanMiddle KoreanContemporary KoreanInternal reconstructionGenetic affiliation
Type
Chapter
Information
Korean
A Linguistic Introduction
 , pp. 9 - 29
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Readings

Huh, Woong. 1975. Wuli Yeys Malpon: Hyengthalon [Middle Korean morphology]. Seoul: SaynMunhwasa.Google Scholar
Kang, Sinhang. 1980. Kyeylim yusa kolye pangen yenkwu [A study of Koryŏ dialect in the Jīlín Lèishì]. Seoul: Sungkyunkwan University Press.Google Scholar
Ko, Seongyeon. 2019. Vowel harmony. In Cho, Sungdai and Whitman, John (eds.), The Handbook of Korean Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-moon and Ramsey, S. Robert. 2011. A History of the Korean Language. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Samuel E. 1992. A Reference Grammar of Korean. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.Google Scholar
Nam, Phunghyun. 2010b. Hankwukŏ-sa e issŏ ŭi kukyŏl charyo [Kukyŏl materials in the context of the history of Korean]. Kukyŏl yŏnku 124: 5–36.Google Scholar
Nam, Pung-hyun. 1999. Kwuke-sa lul wihan kwukyel yenkwu [Research on Kwukyel for Korean language history]. Seoul: Tayhak-sa.Google Scholar
Nam, Pung-hyun. 2012. Old Korean. In Trantner, Nicholas (ed.), The Languages of Japan and Korea, 41–72. Milton Park, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
O’Grady, William, Yang, Changyong, and Sejung, Yang. 2019. Jejueo: Korea’s other language. In Cho, Sungdai and Whitman, John (eds.), The Handbook of Korean Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

References

Georg, Stefan, Michalove, Peter A., Ramer, Alexis Manaster, and Sidwell, Paul J.. 1999. Telling general linguists about Altaic. Journal of Linguistics 35, 65–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockett, Charles. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics. Toronto: MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, Chiyuki. 2007. Chōsen Kanjion Kenkyū [Research on Sino-Korean]. Tokyo: Kyūko shoin.Google Scholar
Janhunen, Juha and Songmoo, Kho. 1982. Is Korean related to Tungusic? Hangŭl 177, 179–190.Google Scholar
Kim, Tong-so. 1981. Hangugŏ wa TUNGUS-ŏ ŭy ŭmun pikyo yŏnku [A comparative study of Korean and Tungusic phonology]. Taegu: Hyosŏng yŏja taehakkyo ch’ulp’anbu.Google Scholar
Ko, Seongyeon, Whitman, John and Joseph, Andrew. 2014. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean. In Robbeets, Martine and Bisang, Walter (eds.), Paradigm Change in the Transeurasian Language and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-moon. 1958. A comparative study of Manchu and Korean. Ural Altaische Jahrbücher 30: 104–120.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-moon. 1961. Kugŏ-sa kaesŏl [Outline of the history of the Korean language]. 2nd ed. 1972. Seoul: T’ap ch’ulp’an-sa.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-moon. 1991. Kugŏ ŏhwi-sa yŏngu [Research on the history of the Korean lexicon]. Seoul: T’ap ch’ulp’an-sa.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-moon. 1998. Kugŏ-sa kaesŏl. Revised ed. of Lee 1961/1972. Seoul: Taehaksa.Google Scholar
Nam, P’ung-hyŏn. 2009. Kodae Hangugŏ yŏngu [Research on ancient Korean]. Seoul: Sigan ŭi Mulle.Google Scholar
Nam, Phunghyun. 2010a. Hŏnhwaga ŭi haedok [The interpretation of the Hŏnhwaga]. Kukyŏl yŏnku 124: 5–36.Google Scholar
Ramsey, Samuel Robert. 1978. Accent and Morphology in Korean Dialects: A Descriptive and Historical Study. Seoul: Tower Press.Google Scholar
Toh, Soo-hee. 2008. Samhan ŭy yŏnku [Research on the Samhan language]. Seoul: Che-i-aen-ssi.Google Scholar
Vovin, Alexander. 2013. Why Korean is demonstrably not related to Tungusic. Proceedings of the conference Comparison of Korean with Other Altaic Languages: Methodologies and Case Studies, November 15, 2013, Gachon University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.Google Scholar
Whitman, John. 2015. Old Korean. In Brown, Lucien and Yeon, Jae Hoon (eds.), The Handbook of Korean Linguistics, 422–438. London: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Historical Background
  • Sungdai Cho, State University of New York, Binghamton, John Whitman, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Korean
  • Online publication: 14 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139048842.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Historical Background
  • Sungdai Cho, State University of New York, Binghamton, John Whitman, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Korean
  • Online publication: 14 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139048842.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Historical Background
  • Sungdai Cho, State University of New York, Binghamton, John Whitman, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Korean
  • Online publication: 14 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139048842.003
Available formats
×