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Korean honorifics
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Korean honorifics
The Korean language has a system of linguistic honorifics that reflects the social status of participants. Speakers use honorifics to indicate their social relationship with the addressee and/or subject of the conversation, concerning their age, social status, gender, degree of intimacy, and situational context.
One basic rule of Korean honorifics is "making oneself lower"; i.e., the speaker uses honorific forms and also humble forms to make themselves lower.
The honorific system is reflected in honorific particles, verbs with special honorific forms or honorific markers and special honorific forms of nouns that includes terms of address.
The age difference between two speakers affects whether or not to use honorifics. Korean speakers in South Korea and North Korea—except in very intimate situations—use different honorifics depending on whether the other person's year of birth is one year or more older, or the same year, or one year or more younger. No matter how close the relationship is to the point where honorifics are not used, if the year of birth is not the same, the hierarchy is determined as hyeong (형), oppa (오빠) (both meaning 'elder brother'), nuna (누나), eonni (언니) (both meaning 'elder sister'), and dongsaeng (동생; 'younger sibling'), all of which are not regarded as mutual friends. However, some Koreans feel that it is unreasonable to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on a small age difference and try to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on intimacy within a small age difference. Also, regardless of whether or not honorifics are used, if the year of birth is more than a year apart, no matter how close people are, Korean people do not think of each other as friends. Until the Joseon-era and unlike today, age was not considered as severe in Korea, thus it was a culture of making friends within a small age gap.[dubious – discuss][original research?]
The current age hierarchy customs of current South and North Korea are influenced by the Japanese colonial occupation era. The current age hierarchy customs of South Korea are greatly influenced by the period when Park Chung-hee, who served in the military of Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, led the military dictatorship in South Korea.
Before 1945, Japan operated its military and schools under a strict hierarchy, and the ranking based on age and seniority was more strict than it is now. These elements of the Japanese military system had a great influence on South and North Korean society. After Japan was defeated in 1945, this culture of arrangement was greatly weakened in Japanese society due to the disbandment of the Japanese military and the establishment of a civilian government, but in South Korea and North Korea, elements of the Japanese military permeated every corner of the society due to the influence of the dictatorship. Therefore, unlike other countries, it is common in South and North Korea to frequently ask people about their age. Many remnants of the age hierarchy system remain.
The Korean language can index deference or respect toward a sentence referent in subject or dative position through the application of lexical choices such as honorific particles.
There is no honorific expression for inanimate -에 (-e). The honorific version of 에게 (-ege) is 께 (-kke).
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Korean honorifics
The Korean language has a system of linguistic honorifics that reflects the social status of participants. Speakers use honorifics to indicate their social relationship with the addressee and/or subject of the conversation, concerning their age, social status, gender, degree of intimacy, and situational context.
One basic rule of Korean honorifics is "making oneself lower"; i.e., the speaker uses honorific forms and also humble forms to make themselves lower.
The honorific system is reflected in honorific particles, verbs with special honorific forms or honorific markers and special honorific forms of nouns that includes terms of address.
The age difference between two speakers affects whether or not to use honorifics. Korean speakers in South Korea and North Korea—except in very intimate situations—use different honorifics depending on whether the other person's year of birth is one year or more older, or the same year, or one year or more younger. No matter how close the relationship is to the point where honorifics are not used, if the year of birth is not the same, the hierarchy is determined as hyeong (형), oppa (오빠) (both meaning 'elder brother'), nuna (누나), eonni (언니) (both meaning 'elder sister'), and dongsaeng (동생; 'younger sibling'), all of which are not regarded as mutual friends. However, some Koreans feel that it is unreasonable to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on a small age difference and try to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on intimacy within a small age difference. Also, regardless of whether or not honorifics are used, if the year of birth is more than a year apart, no matter how close people are, Korean people do not think of each other as friends. Until the Joseon-era and unlike today, age was not considered as severe in Korea, thus it was a culture of making friends within a small age gap.[dubious – discuss][original research?]
The current age hierarchy customs of current South and North Korea are influenced by the Japanese colonial occupation era. The current age hierarchy customs of South Korea are greatly influenced by the period when Park Chung-hee, who served in the military of Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, led the military dictatorship in South Korea.
Before 1945, Japan operated its military and schools under a strict hierarchy, and the ranking based on age and seniority was more strict than it is now. These elements of the Japanese military system had a great influence on South and North Korean society. After Japan was defeated in 1945, this culture of arrangement was greatly weakened in Japanese society due to the disbandment of the Japanese military and the establishment of a civilian government, but in South Korea and North Korea, elements of the Japanese military permeated every corner of the society due to the influence of the dictatorship. Therefore, unlike other countries, it is common in South and North Korea to frequently ask people about their age. Many remnants of the age hierarchy system remain.
The Korean language can index deference or respect toward a sentence referent in subject or dative position through the application of lexical choices such as honorific particles.
There is no honorific expression for inanimate -에 (-e). The honorific version of 에게 (-ege) is 께 (-kke).