Honorifics usually describe language that honors the other party, often by using honorific address terms. To be exact, though people often refer to it as ‘honorifics’, the Korean speech level system is not just an honorific system. Korea’s honorific system is quite complicated.
How complex is this honorific system of speech and how is it taught? During this period, the divisions between royalty, nobility, commoners (farmers, artisans, blacksmiths, and merchants), slaves (personal or public) and outcasts (such as butchers) were rigid and clear.įrom this soil emerged speech levels, which expressed not only the formality of the situation, but also levels of deference towards the listener, as well as the subject, the object or the complement of a sentence.Ģ. In addition, the more recent Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) had a hereditary status system based on Confucian ideals, but was more complicated in its detail and similar to India’s caste system in its strictness. Similarly, the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) also distinguished nobility from common people. The Silla Dynasty was recognized for its hierarchical system known as the “bone order”. It seems plausible to track the origins of speech levels to the strict hereditary social class system of ancient Korea. By this time, speech levels already existed in their fully-fledged form. Koreans had always spoken Korean, but up until this time had been using Chinese characters for writing until the invention of Hangul in 1443. The earliest Korean documentation of speech levels was during the 15th century when King Sejong and his scholars created Hangul, the Korean writing system. These poems, written in the Idu system of abbreviated Chinese script, contained characters such as 賜, 白, and 音 which expressed deferential speech (Park 1989, p. The first examples of this system appeared in hyangga poems. How did these levels evolve historically?Įarly examples of the complex speech level system in the Korean language can be traced back to the start of the Silla Dynasty which started in 57BC during the Three Kingdom Period of Korea. Korean is a language with various levels of politeness.
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She is able to answer these questions deftly using creative narrative, and drawing upon her historical and professional knowledge of the language.ġ. She responds to questions regarding the intricate relationship Korean language plays in social structure, inter-personal relationships, and thought process. Professory Chae, a leading expert in Linguistics who has taught at Ehwa, Hanyang, Sungkyunkwan, and Sogang university, provides keen insight and perspective on this topic.
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A series that explores the complex nature of Korean language, and its relationship with society.
Professor Sonia Seo-young Chae has joined the Asia Society Korea Center for the “Journey into Hangeul” series.
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