By Sara McAdory-Kim and Jaymin Kim
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.
We are back after some life-induced stop-and-go, including 2/3 of our household getting COVID among several other stressful life things - thank you for your patience (and thanks especially to our guest for his patience!).
---
Guest: Dr. Andrew Cheng
Background:
Andrew had a Fulbright teaching position in South Korea for two years after college as a native English teacher.
He then went to grad school at Berkeley, studying under Dr. Keith Johnson, and got interested in sociophonetics. He wrote a dissertation on Korean Americans and bilingualism.
After a postdoc at UC Irvine, he is now at Simon Fraser University. He has branched out from Korean and also studies other areas.
Research: Fundamental frequency and bilingualism
How do languages fundamentally differ? There’s been a lot of research on this. To some extent, it’s easy to see - e.g., Korean and English have different sounds. But what about fundamental frequency (vocal fold vibration rate - commonly thought of as pitch). How do languages differ along this axis? The study by linguist Andrew Cheng that we're talking about today looked at this aspect.
Most studies compare two separate groups of people who speak each language, but what about if you look at the same people speaking two different languages - i.e., the same exact bodies (same vocal apparatus)?
Pitch is the perception of the fundamental frequency.
Andrew worked with 2nd- and 1.5-generation Korean Americans who learned both Korean and English simultaneously or nearly so. Korean Americans and other overseas Koreans are commonly known in Korean as gyopo.
Today’s word: Gyopo 교포
People of Korean ethnicity who live in other countries - Jaymin has always conceptualized it in opposition to yuhaksaeng 유학생, study abroad students.
There are stereotypes about how gyopos speak Korean (accent) in Korea, but Andrew emphasizes that the Korean they speak is totally valid and is definitely real Korean.
Methods:
Andrew’s paper: He interviewed the same people in both English and Korean, with an activity that served as a buffer between the two parts - just basic conversation, really.
Then, he used a specific software to analyze the recordings and find which was higher/lower in fundamental frequency.
There were theoretical reasons why he wanted to recruit from both 2nd and 1.5-generation Koreans, but in the end, there was no significant difference in pitch between the two groups as adults.
But for all, the fundamental frequency was higher when they spoke Korean than when they spoke English.
Analyzing Jaymin's Korean and English.
Andrew analyzed Jaymin speaking in Korean and in English. They found that, contrary to Sara's personal perceptions, he followed the pattern of Korean being higher in pitch than English. (Jaymin didn't have exactly the same language learning profile as the participants in Andrew's research, having learned English mostly in his late teens, but it was interesting to see the pattern continue in this casual analysis.)
Raising bilingual kids
Jaymin and Sara discuss their experience trying (failing?) to raise a bilingual Korean-English kid, and Andrew discusses his newer work on French/English bilingualism, bilingualism and pragmatic cues, etc.
Find Andrew Cheng online:
@LinguistAndrew
Website: http://www.sfu.ca/~aca301/
---
Follow us on social media:
@HanmadiKorean on Twitter
[email protected] with any comments, questions, or requests
Website:
Keuriseumaseu: Syllable structure in Korean
Word and meaning:
크리스마스 Keuriseumaseu means Christmas
Origin:
It comes from the English word Christmas
Cultural Contexts:
Dating etc. (see the Hanmadi post on Christmas at https://hanmadikorean.com/christmas/)
Linguistic element: Syllable structure of Korean (Young-Mee Yu Cho)
General syllable structure: Aslam, M., & Kak, A. (2007). English Syllable Structure. In Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology (pp. 60-68). Foundation Books. doi:10.1017/UPO9788175968653.005
“Every language manifests a particular way of combining its sounds to form meaningful words or parts of words, called syllables. Each language puts certain restrictions on these possible combinations. For example, in English we can't have a word which begins with a consonant sequence bfj, zbf or tzp. When we analyse what restrictions (and regularities) are found in the language under study, we are studying the syllable structure of that language. We can divide words into one or more syllables. For example, tin has one syllable, brother has two, important has three and computer has four syllables each.
A syllable is a group of one or more sounds. The essential part of a syllable is a vowel sound (V) which may be preceded and/or followed by a consonant (C) or a cluster of consonants (CC or CCC) (see below). Some syllables consist of just one vowel sound (V) as in I and eye/aI/, owe/ə/. In English, a syllable can consist of a vowel preceded by one consonant (CV) as in pie/paI/, or by two consonants (CCV) as in try/traI/, or by three consonants (CCCV) as in spry/spraI/. The vowel of the syllable may also be followed by one consonant (VC) as in at/æt/, or by two consonants (VCC) as in its/Its/, or by three consonants (CVCCC) as in text/tekst/or by four consonants (CVCCCC) as in texts/teksts/.”
Maximal syllable shape is the syllable type that contains the most possible segments in onset and coda positions, for instance CCCVCCCC in an English word like strengths (https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/el_centro_research/5/)
Spanish: CCVC
Japanese: CV
Hawaiian: CV
Really different from English.
CGVC (onset consonant glide vowel coda consonant)
Note how the syllabic structure is actually embedded in the writing system.
값, 삶, 없[다]: alone, only one consonant surfaces, but in certain environments, the other does as well.
And additionally, some sounds can’t come at the beginning or end of a syllable. E.g., “sh” ; “ng” (as in English).
And some diphthongs don’t work in Korean as single syllables. E.g., “I”
Christmas: How many syllables? In English, 2. In Korean, 5.
Other examples:
프렌드 friend - clusters not allowed
콩글리쉬 Konglish
arbeit
ice cream
Sandwich
Wine
—
Sources:
Young-Mee Yu Cho. Syllable-based Phonological Processes. Lucien Brown and Jaehoon Yeon, eds. The Handbook of Korean Linguistics. Wiley; 2015. 22-40.
Follow us on social media:
@HanmadiKorean on Twitter
[email protected] with any comments, questions, or requests
Website: hanmadikorean.com
---
Theme music:
Words for talking about COVID-19 in Korean
As with other languages, a lot of new words have entered Korean during the pandemic, and other older words have come into wider use.
New words (neologisms) can be borrowed (i.e., a word used in another language is brought into the language you’re speaking, with a similar or sometimes a somewhat different meaning); or created from “scratch” or by combining parts of other words.
Some COVID-related words in Korean:
코로나 - korona - COVID-19
Korean word for quarantine:
자가격리 - jaga gyeongni - quarantining at one’s own house - literally, own house quarantining.
Sino-Korean word; not newly coined, but in more frequent use. Doesn’t actually have to be at one’s own house.
Korean word for mask scofflaws:
턱스크 - teokseukeu - when someone wears a mask down on their chin instead of over their mouth. Yes, these people exist everywhere! From native Korean teok 턱 + last two Koreanized syllables of 마스크, English mask
Korean word for social distancing:
사회적 거리두기 - sahoejeok georidugi - social distancing - Sino-Korean + Native Korean. Essentially a literal translation
Korean words for contactless/virtual things during COVID-19:
언택트 - eontaekteu - probably a new coinage for COVID - un as in English un-, tact from English contact. So no contact, basically - people used to use it a lot from things happening over Zoom rather than real life; contactless deliveries; etc.
비대면 - not face to face (literal translation) - a Sino-Korean word that has been replacing (or has replaced) 언택트
랜선여행 - laen-seon yeohaeng - virtual travel - 랜 from LAN as in the English abbreviation LAN for those really fast Internet cables (랜) + 선 line (which together mean ethernet cable in Korean) + 여행 travel
Korean word for preventive measures during COVID-19:
K-방역 - K-bangyeok - Korean preventive measures - K as in Korea/Korean (e.g., K-pop); the things Korea did to keep COVID from getting to crazy levels the way it did in the US and many other countries that didn’t implement such strong measures.
Korean words for a future with endemic COVID-19:
위드 코로나 - wideu korona - from English, “with Corona,” as in “living with Corona” - adapting to a life in which COVID-19 is endemic
단계별 일상 회복 - dangyebol (stage by stage) 일상 (everyday life) 회복 recovery the word the government is pushing to replace 위드 코로나, essentially meaning the same thing.
Do you know any other COVID-related Korean words? We’d love to hear them if so!
---
Follow us on social media:
@HanmadiKorean on Twitter
[email protected] with any comments, questions, or requests
Website: hanmadikorean.com
---
Theme music: The Boating Trip by LATG Music.
Introduction: Guest Professor Jeff Holliday of Korea University
Jeff Holliday is an assistant professor of linguistics at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. He began learning Korean from friends he met as an undergraduate at Ohio State University, then studied the language more formally, learned about the field of linguistics, and became fascinated by Korean language acquisition, especially how people (including himself) learned to make a language’s sounds without being explicitly told how by a teacher. He pursued a doctorate in linguistics from Ohio State University and, following graduation, completed a postdoc at Indiana University Bloomington.
You can find Jeff on Twitter at @jeffyholliday and read more about him on his website. Many thanks to Jeff for being our first guest - it was great fun to talk to you!
---
Today’s word: Sal 살
Meaning: Sal. flesh, meat, skin
Related words:
salgogi 살고기 - lean meat (as opposed to fatty meat)
salsaek 살색 - former word for the color usually described as peach in English - means “skin color” - now salgusaek (apricot color) is used
samgyeopsal 삼겹살 - delicious sliced pork belly grilled before your very eyes. Try it with wasabi, it's the new cool thing!
---
Linguistic element: Perception and production of the fricative /s/ in Korean
Jeff’s research on L1 and L2 Korean speakers’ perception and production of ㅅ/ㅆ - that is, lax s /s(h)/ (that h should be superscript to indicate aspiration but can't do it in this text box) and tense s /s*/
2014 article: "The perception of Seoul Korean fricatives by listeners from five different native dialect and language groups"
Can speakers distinguish between ㅅ (si-ot) and ㅆ (ssang si-ot)? (pronounced something like shee-ote)
This article looked at L1 Seoul Korean speakers, L1 Gyeongsang Korean speakers, L1 Jeju Korean speakers, L1 Mandarin Korean learners, L1 Japanese Korean learners. (L1 = first/native language. L2 = second language)
How do Gyeongsang speakers compare with nonnative Korean speakers?
Stereotype: Gyeongsang Korean lacks differentiation between ㅅ and ㅆ (both realized as ㅅ)
But actually - No one is completely sure if Gyeongsang speakers neutralize the s(h)/s* contrast - or at lest which ones do
Fricatives: near closures - the air doesn’t stop flowing while you’re making the sound. As opposed to m and p, or t and k, where there’s a complete closure and a release. S, ch, h are fricatives in Korean - near closures.
Participants:
5 groups: Seoul KL1, Jeju KL1, Daegu KL1, Mandarin KL2, Japanese KL2 - 20 each
Methods:
Non-words made from words recorded by Seoul speakers
Minimal pair test and CV test
Minimal pairs: native listeners nearly at ceiling, nonnative near chance, very little variation within each group
CV test: Also a clear difference between native/nonnative speakers
Vowel context was a main effect, with native language also making a difference when combined with vowel context. No significant difference between Mandarin and Japanese.
No meaningful difference between dialect groups.
Young listeners from Daegu can differentiate the two sounds just as accurately as Seoul can.
Mandarin and native Japanese novice learners both unskilled at differentiating.
Vowel heights: ALL groups were more accurate in low vowels like /a/ than in high vowels like /i/ - acoustic cues like aspiration weaker in the /u/ and /i/ contexts. Because L1 listeners
Hada: Light verbs, heavy lifting
Today's word: 하다
Meaning: to do
But it can also be used in a lot of other ways, and I kind of think of it as the verb that does everything
Origins:
Native Korean word, from middle korean h(backward c)da https://www.ipachart.com/
Linguistic element: Korean verb basics and light verbs
The basics on Korean verbs
SOV word order (generally) - the verb MUST come last.
Hada - infinitive, like “to do” in English. Some debate over whether the ha- or the hada- version is the “basic” version of a verb in Korean, it seems.
More common forms:
Haeyo, hamnida, haesseoyo, heaesseumnida
Light verbs:
This verb is also what’s called a light verb, a verb that has little meaning of its own and works with another word, usually an adjective, as a sort of complete lexical unit. “The term light verb was coined by Jesperson (1965) to signify a group of verbs that are distinguished from lexical verbsverbs6 or auxiliaries in English e.g., take in take a walk , give in give a groan , and make in make an offer )).” (Bak Jaehee 2011)
Examples in English:
Have, as in “have a party”
Take, as in “take a break”
And “do” as in “do your homework”
In Korean, 하다 is also like this and in fact you can use it to in some of the same constructions, for example, 학생이 숙제를 했어요 , The student did homework.
But it’s a lot more useful in Korean than in English and can be used in a lot more ways, that might seem even less related to “doing” something to an English speaker at least.
For example, you can also use it to make the vast majority of nouns into verbs or even an adjective - compared with English, there’s sort of a thin line between verbs and adjectives in Korean, and in many cases they work the same way.
In particularly, Sino-Korean words, which make up 60-65% of the lexicon, can become verbs (or adjectives) this way:
Adjectives: 소중하다, to be precious or dear; 대단하다, to be amazing or awesome
Verbs: 수용하다, to swim; 결혼하다, to marry/get married
But also words from English or other languages that make up that “5%” that’s not Sino-Korean:
샤워하다, to take a shower; 헌팅하다, to go out and try to pick up
And finally even though a lot of verbs without hada are Native Korean verbs - possibly all of them - you can use it with Native Korean nouns to make other verbs:
밥하다 - to eat rice
You can’t just put any type of verb, has to be generally activity or state (feature: eventuality)
“The LVs are limited to primitive predicates such as do, become, etc.” Bak
Sociocultural contexts/related words:
Another light verb in Korean is 되다, which means to become.
Sources:
Lee, E., Madigan, S., & Park, M.-J. (2015). An Introduction to Korean Linguistics (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315678016.
Bak Jaehee (2011). The Light Verb Construction in Korean. PhD Dissertation, University of Toronto. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/31684/1/Bak_Jaehee_201111_PhD_thesis.pdf
(now at chungnam dae)
----
Follow us on social media:
@HanmadiKorean on Twitter
[email protected] with any...
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.