Learning Journal #10

[Devin Chen]

If I was granted a research funding to study Korean linguistics, I would begin by analyzing the Korean history, origin story, society, structure of power, etc. to actually figure the unresolved problem of language family affiliation. I think it is an important question to study because it makes language learning a lot more structured and organized. Learning about how Korea developed and what sort of interactions it had with other cultures can help me develop a sense of how Korean finally came to be. But I would also need to compare and contrast grammar rules and the phonetics of the Korean language with other similar language families. For example, Hanja has Chinese characters, suggesting that the Koreans had extensive interactions with the Chinese. But the Koreans also have developed a great etiquette towards the elders that is reflected through language, this same culture of respect for elders is also very strong in Japanese. I am very interested in this Chinese-Korean-Japanese dynamic. Another structural component that I would include is phonetics, there are more sounds in Korean that does not exist in other languages. In addition, there are consonants that together form stressed or accented sounds, such as kk, gg.