Even though I grew up speaking Korean, I never had to think about linguistic aspects of Korean language. It was very interesting to read about how time expression in Korean relates to a nature, in particular, the universe. For example, a year is expressed in a notion of sun whereas a month is expressed in moon. Article explains that this is originated from looking at the sky when figuring out the time in the past. Traditionally, Koreans tend to divide up a day into five sections which are dawn, morning, lunchtime, late afternoon, and evening. Moreover, Koreans do not have separate words for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The word for morning and breakfast is the same, the word for lunch and afternoon is the same, and the word for dinner and evening is the same. Likewise, it is interesting to learn about time expression in Korean.
Another linguistic aspect that I think it is unique is polite word. Korean people traditionally thought that having an appropriate courtesy towards elders is very important matter. From the culture that elders are respected, the language has formed to have polite word. For example, there are different words for meal, sickness, asking and dying. These are not used in every situation where one is older than the other, but it should be used appropriately in Korean culture.
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