[Note: For the Korean Web samples, two Romanized Korean vowels that require a special font are transcribed inadequately into the nearest vowle in the Times font. These are o and u with a "breve" accent, which are transcribed as oe and ue respectively.]
As already mentioned, the Korean language has three kinds of words: native Korean, Sino-Korean, and foreign, mostly European. The three kinds differ not only in their origins but also in their forms and uses.
Korean native morphemes have been used by Koreans throughout their long history. Some morphemes are monosyllabic, as are all the entries in Table 11-2, but most contain two or more syllables: param, tokkebi, and susukkekki ('wind', 'ghost', and 'riddle'), which contain two, three, and four syllables, respectively. Monosyllabic morphemes make up only 3% of the native vocabulary, but they are mostly basic, common words that are much used (Kim Chong-t'aek 1992). By contrast, Chinese morphemes are typically one syllable, as pointed out in Chapter 2. For example, the Korean tokkebi and susukkekki are in Chinese gui and mi, respectively.
Sino-Korean (S-K) words can be written in Chinese characters, unlike native words, which cannot. Because S-K words have been used in Korean for so long and so extensively that they form an integral part of the Korean vocabulary; they are not considered to be foreign loan words. S-K words include also numerous words coined by the Japanese for modern, Western concepts. Such words, modelled on Chinese words and meant to be written in Chinese characters, are indistinguishable from Chinese-origin words ( "Foreign Loan Words" in chap. 2). Many S-K words are analogous to such obviously French words in English as bon mot and déjà vu, which educated English speakers use, knowing their French origins. A few S-K words are analogous to such French words in English as niche and chamber, which have been so assimilated into English, with Anglicized pronunciations, that their French origins are no longer obvious. As more and more S-K words are written in a phonetic script instead of Chinese characters, their S-K origins might become blurred (chap. 15).
A few "native" words turn out to be S-K words that have been so Koreanized, with a sound change, that their Chinese origins are no longer recognizable: choe ('flute') from S-K choek and ch'o ('candle') from S-K ch'ok. The word yoenmot is thought to be a native word, but in fact etymologically it consists of a S-K yoen ('pond') + native mot ('pond') (Shim 1995). To my surprise, even kimch'i ('pickled vegetable'), the well-known native dish, began as a S-K word (Cho 1991). By and large, if a word can be written in characters, it is S-K; if not, it is native. But all words, including S-K words, can be written in the phonetic script. S-K words often are written phonetically in S. Korea and always are in N. Korea, but when they are, some infrequent or homophonic words are not easily recognized (chap. 15).
The contrast between native words and S-K words in the Korean vocabulary is similar, but not identical, to a distinction found in the Japanese vocabulary. In Japanese even native words, if they are content words, tend to be written in characters.
In the 17th century Korea had its first glimpse of Western science and technology, initially by way of Ming China. Korean envoys brought back from China such Western objects as a map of Europe and of the world, a telescope, an alarm clock and books on astronomy and Western culture. Because Western objects and concepts came to Korea via China, they tended to be given S-K words rather than Korean phonetic transcriptions. Thus, telescope was not, and still is not, "t'eresuek'op" but mangwoengyoeng, as in Chinese wangyuanjing and Japanese booenkyoo; the words use the same three Chinese characters meaning 'view, distance, mirror'. (Originally it was woenjogyoeng, 'distance, reflect, mirror'.) Even in the early 20th century, Western objects and concepts tended to reach Korea via China or Japan, and were given S-K names, such as choenhwa ('telephone'), corresponding to Chinese dienhua and Japanese denwa, written in two Chinese characters meaning 'electricity, speak'.
In recent times Western concepts and words have entered the Korean vocabulary directly and have tended to be phonetically transcribed: kamera, koemp'yut'oe, sonata, wotk'a, syamp'ein ('camera', 'computer', 'sonata', 'vodka', 'champagne'). One is likely to hear a dialogue like the following that is peppered with English loan words (in italics):
onuel roench'i nuen pastput uero halka? haemboegue, saeloedue wa k'oep'i ro haji.
The Korean sound system lacks the sounds /f/, /v/, initial /l/, and the th- sounds in think and this. So, the sound /f/, for example, is regularly transcribed as p'. Thus coffee becomes k'oep'i, which unfortunately sounds like the native word k'op'i ('nose blood') and sometimes tastes like it too! What could be pastput? It turns out to be the "transcription" of fast food. The Koreans can pronounce and write hwast huud, which sounds closer to the original English phrase. So, the above KoreanEnglish sentence means, "Shall we have fast food for lunch? Let's have hamburger , salad, and coffee."
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