Comparative Grammar Project:
콩글리시≠ English
Michael Angelo
Wayne State University
Spring 2014
Abstract
This paper presents a brief historical account of Konglish, possible source of errors Konglish speakers are likely to encounter when speaking and learning English, and task activities designed to highlight grammatical variations between Konglish and English. It explores the syllabification differences of English loanwords regularly occurring in Konglish today, phonological limitations of the Korean language in pronouncing English sounds, and the semantics in which Konglish is used. By reviewing current research on Konglish grammar, as well as drawing from the author’s own background knowledge and usage of Konglish, the aim of this research isto improve English second language acquisition among native Korean-speaking students by focusing on key grammatical differences between Konglish and English.
Introduction
While research has consensually evidenced that many of the first English loanwords to enter Korean did so via Japanese during the colonial period more than 100 years ago, the exact origins of Konglish – the English-Korean hybrid spoken regularly in Korea – are still widely unknown today (Fullerton 2009). Some researchers cite Korean-English cell phone dictionaries as the source for the widespread proliferation of Konglish since the initial introduction by the Japanese (Fullerton 2009), while others attribute it to social norms and the behaviors of those speaking it (Kim 2014; Sueng-woo 2008), but regardless of these discrepancies surrounding its origins, the status of Konglish on the world stage is beyond debate today (Lawrence 2012) with as much as ten percent of the modern Korean language being made up of English loanwords (Fullerton 2009).
In years past, Konglish has been erroneously classified as merely a collection of loanwords, a codified Korean-English, an interlanguage for Korean English second language learners, just one of several “new Englishes” coming into being, or simply as bad English. Konglish has even been categorized as a sublanguage, and perhaps it is because of the ever-changing nature of language that the role and status of Konglish has wavered so much throughout its past(Lawrence 2012). Isolationist and nationalist movements in the country have even had successes at curtailing the acceptability of Konglish and demonizing it as a relic of colonialism (Kim 2014). As it exists today though, Konglish is now considered a potential contact vernacular (Lawrence 2012).
By definition, potential contact vernaculars display linguistic consideration for morphology, semantics, syntax, pronunciation, pragmatics and discourse but are not unique enough to be considered their own languages (Lawrence 2012). In short, the presence of Konglish in Korean has become so pervasive that citizens may be unaware that they are using loanwords at all; or the preference for Konglish has already overridden the usage of the Korean word – as seen in the Konglish “러시아” (Russia, or “la-shi-ah”) or “오렌지” (Orange, or “oh-len-ji”). Citrus fruits have never grown well in the temperate Korean peninsula, which may account for usage of the English loan in this instance, but certainly Koreans must have seen the color orange or the country of Russia well before the Japanese colonization; and it’s due to inconsistencies like these that have left the status, usage and history of Konglish so muddled through the years.
Because of its unknown history, the shifting views on its usage, and the long-term evolutionary effect it is having on the Korean language proper, combined with the author’s own interest and experience using Konglish, this paper will analyze formal, grammatical features of Konglish, will investigate Konglish phonemic and semantic qualities, and will present several task-based, input activities designed to highlight linguistic differences between Konglish and its parent languages.
Comparison
Since Konglish is a hybrid of the Korean and English languages, it displays grammatical properties of both languages in varying degrees. Usage of the word “니스” (Nice, or “nice-uh”)as a congratulations, for example, displays these conflicting grammatical considerations in that it follows English semantics in usage but follows Korean phonology in pronunciation. Korean has a natural tendency to attach vowel sounds to unaccompanied consonant endings in individual syllables and words (Eun-Young 2012), which can be seen in the Konglish pronunciation of this widely used, acceptable and understandable Korean term. First time, native English speakers in country may have difficulties in comprehending Konglish words like니스on the first encounter, however, a guiding rule of thumb for the Konglishization of English words is to simply pronounce the silent e ending that so is common in the English lexicon. Although this rule doesn’t account for all English loanwords existing in Korean today, it can be generally applied to many English words and improves Konglish-English communications. Some examples of words in which this rule applies include: Mike or마이크(“ma-ee-kuh”); juice or주스 (“juice-uh”); and skate or스케이트 (“suh-kae-ee-tuh”).
Similarly, the /ʃ/ and /t͡ʃ/sounds– “th” and “ch” respectively – are almost never used to end a word or syllable in Korean and this too lends itself to Konglish(Eun-Young 2012). The standard process for Konglishizing English loanwords that end in either of these sounds is to attach /ē/ or the “y” sound in “happy” to the end of the word. Western ears would have no difficulty deciphering the difference between “trash” and “trashy;” to a Konglish-speaking Korean, however, these would be homophones. Other instances of this appearing in Konglish include: Josh or조시(“josh-y”) and brush or 브러시(“buh-la-she”).
Other grammatical variances between English and Korean exist in abundance as well and have had a role in shaping the Konglish spoken today. The English language makes use of onset and closing consonant clusters as seen in the words “stress” and “Christmas;” however Korean avoids consonant clusters and instead breaks the clusters into several syllables – resulting in Konglish words like “스트레스” (stress, or “suh-tuh-lae-suh”) and “크리스마스” (Christmas, or “kuh-li-suh-ma-suh”) that mean and sound similar to their English counterparts but contain noticeably more syllables. The long i sound in “tiger” (/ī/) is another variant between the two parent languages, and Konglish words with this phoneme covert the sound to the diphthong /ʌɪ/heard in “Michael.” Additionally, the Korean tendency to end words with vowels instead of consonants results in the systematic replacement of the common “-er” ending in English with the “aw” sound or /ô/ phoneme found in Korean – turning words like computer into컴퓨터(or “kom-pyu-taw”).
Potential Sources of Errors
Phonetics is a primary source of errors for Korean ESL students because the Korean language lacks native /f/, /v/, /z/, /w/, /ð/ and /θ/ sounds and uses only one symbol to denote the /l/ and /r/ phonemes (Eun-Young 2012; Korean Phonemic Inventory 2014). The trend for Konglishizing English loanwords that use these sounds is to replace the alien phonemes with those native to Korean, however, many of the replacement phonemes effectively alter the sound of the Konglishized word so much that native English speakers would have difficulty understanding what was said (Kim 2014). The /z/ phoneme is a particularly shining example of this practice, coming through in Korean as /j/, and producing Konglish favorites like “피자” and “좀비” (pizza or “pi-ja” and zombie or “jom-bi” respectively).
The /f/ sound in English is another example of an alien phoneme to Korean pallets. Because /f/ doesn’t naturally exist in Korean and is unlike anything that does exist in Korean phonology, /f/ is often mispronounced by Koreans as something nearer /b/, /p/, or in some cases /huə/. As such, the English word “fighting” comes through in Konglish as “화이팅” (“hwah-ee-ting”) and is vernacularly used as a cheer or rah during sporting events (Sueng-woo 2008) and“flash” translates to “플래쉬” (“puhl-lae-shui”) and carries a synonymous meaning to its English counter. Research published this year has linked the many phonemic /f/ translations to the clipping of words and to hypercorrection (Kim 2014).
In addition to the examples of /f/ and /z/, further phonological potential source of errors should be given to the interchangeability of /l/ and /r/ in Korean and the absence of either “th” phoneme in Korean(Kim 2014); the similarities between /j/ and /ch/ as they exist in Korean (Lawrence 2012); and nasal final stops and intonation or the lack of stressed/unstressed syllables in Korean (Korean Phonemic Inventory 2014). As evidenced by Konglish words in existence today, these are just some of the most typical, phonological difficulties Koreans face when learning English, and as such shouldn’t be overlooked when teaching ESL.
Further consideration of Konglish sociolinguistics, morphology and semantics reveal additional potential source of errors for Korean ESL students (Eun-Young 2012; Kim 2014). As the history of Konglish reveals, the acceptability of using English loanwords has waxed and waned over the years but is widely acceptable today (Fullerton 2009). Consequently, the acceptance of Konglish by society has been marked with limited pushback (Sueng-woo 2008) and a boom of innovative morphological and semantic changes to the way Konglish is used. Some of the most notable instances of these changes include semantic shifts, creative compounding, mixed-code combinations and clipping (Eun-Young 2012).
Semantic shifts occur when the definition of a word changes over time and can be found in abundance in Konglish. For Korean ESL students semantic shifts between English and Konglish are a possible source of error because of the completely different definitions a single word can have. 사이다(cider, or “sa-ee-da”) is one example of such semantic shifts, denoting lemon-lime pop like Sprite or 7Up in Konglish and apple cider in English. Other examples include 서비스or service (meaning free, complimentary or on the house in Konglish) and레스토랑or restaurant (Konglish for a formal, sit-down restaurant not including fast food) (Eun-Young 2012).
Creative compounds in Konglish are the result of two individual, English lexemes being compounded to form a new word unseen in the parent English language. Unknown to the rest of the English-speaking world, Konglish creative compounds are evidence of the dynamic nature of Konglish and can furthermore hinder English second language acquisition among Korean students. Examples of creative compounds in Konglish include: 핸드폰(hand phone, or “hahn-duh-pone) meaning cell phone; 개그맨(gag man, or “gae-guh-maen”) meaning comedian; and프리사이즈(free size, or “puh-lee-sa-ee-juh) meaning one size fits all (Eun-Young 2012).
Konglish mixed code combinations, similar to creative compounds, are the combination of two or more words but instead combine Korean and English lexemes together to form a new word. The result of mixed code combinations can be seen in the Konglish word 안전벨트(or “ahn-jeon-bel-tuh”), which combines the Korean word for “safety” (안전) with the English word for “belt” to form the Korean word for seatbelts. Another instance of a commonly heard mixed code combination is감자칩(or “gam-ja-chip”) and is made from the Korean word for potato (감자) and the English word for chip to form the Korean word for potato chip. Mixed code combinations are used not only to create Korean synonyms for English words but also to create words or ideas that are unheard of or foreign to English, further causing potential source of errors for Korean ESL students. 눈팅(or “noon-ting”) is a combination of the Korean word for “eye” (눈) and the “–ting” ending in the word “meeting” and is used to denote a person who reads Internet posts but does not contribute to them, for example(Eun-Young 2012).
Clipping, much as the name implies, is the shortening of an existing term that retains its original meaning, and the practice is as common to Konglish as it is to English or any other language. Unfortunately for Korean speakers learning English, however, Konglish clippings almost never occur in native English speech and can be a potential source of error. “Remote controller” exemplifies the dichotomous ways in which the two languages clip words very well. Commonly shortened to just “remote” or “controller” in English, the word is clipped in Konglish to 리모트콘(“lee-moe-tuh con”) or remote con. Other occurrences of clipping in Konglish are seen in the words 백뮤식(back music, or “baekmyu-sic”) and 오무라이스(omu rice, or “oh-mu-la-ee-suh”), meaning background music and omelet rice respectively (Eun-Young 2012).
Instruction and Activities
Despite its status as a potential contact vernacular today, the growing influence Konglish has had on the Korean language proper throughout history –as well as the many, dynamic ways in which it’s being currently used– indicate the larger role Konglish is having on the evolution of the Korean language. Defectors from North Korea – where Konglish doesn’t exist and Chinese reigns as the most influential foreign language– have already expressed difficulties in communicatingwith South Koreans, and the two governments have agreed to at least attempt to reconcile their lexicons (Lee 2007). The larger implication of the widening rift between the two Koreans begs to be seen, but the importance and prevalence of Konglish remain steadfast with each passing day.
It is because of all of these considerations that the distinction between Konglish and English must be made clear to Korean students learning English. The following four input activities are therefore designed to introduce and highlight some of the grammatical differences existing between Konglish and English. The first activity focuses on the syllabic differences between Konglish and English, consonant clusters and phonemes, and the second on the morphology of English words entering Korean according to Korean grammar rules. The third activity tasks students to address the morphological and phonetic difference of the two languages without regard for Korean grammar, and the last activity exercises Korean ESL learners listening ability by having them listen to homophones. After completion of the input activities, the attached lesson plan offers students a final review of the information covered and allows for peer evaluation by means of creating captions to pictures of poor Konglish.
콩글리시≠ English Input Activity 1
Syllable counts – Work with a partner reading the Konglish and English words out loud, keeping track of how many syllables are in each.
Syllables / 콩글리시 / English / Syllables2 / 커피 / Coffee
4 / 스트레스 / Stress
2 / 피자 / Pizza
3 / 넥타이 / Necktie
3 / 러시아 / Russia
3 / 컴퓨터 / Computer
3 / 화이팅 / Fighting
2 / 택시 / Taxi
3 / 카메라 / Camera
5 / 크리스마스 / Christmas
콩글리시≠ English Input Activity 2
Konglishizing – Following the rules of Korean grammar, work with your partner to create your own Konglishzation of these English words, keeping track of how many syllables are in each form.
Syllables / 콩글리시 / English / SyllablesJosh / 1
garbage / 2
twelve / 1
fleece / 1
crazy / 2
plush / 1
Flint / 1
콩글리시≠ English Input Activity 3
Konglishizing Continued – Forget the rules of Korean grammar and work with your partner to create your own Konglishzation of these English words. Substitute English letters for Korean symbols for the correct sound and make sure the Konglish word has the same number of syllables as the English.
콩글리시 / English / Syllables(좀비) / zombie / 2
silence / 2
buffering / 3
tigers / 2
orange / 1
Australopithecus / 6
Transformers / 3
serving / 2
콩글리시≠ English Input Activity 4
Homophone or not – Listen to your partner read the pairs of words below and mark whether the words sound exactly the same or not.
Words / HomophoneYes or No
Trash
Trashy
Orange
오렌지
Dollar
달러
Breath
Breathe
Moose
Moos
Cola
콜라
Tease
Teas
References
Eun-Young, J. K. (2012). Creative adoption: trends in Anglicisms in Korea. English
Today, 28, pp 15-17 doi:10.1017/S0266078412000107. Retrieved from:
Fullerton, C. (2009, December 12). Origins of Konglish.The Korea Times.Retrieved
from:
Kim, H. (2014).Huffing and puffing about /f/-ing everything: language ideologies and
phonological borrowing in South Korea (Master’s Thesis). Retrieved from:
ideals.illinois.edu. (URI:
Korean Phonemic Inventory. (2014). (Chart showing all phonemes of Korean
language). American Speech Language Hearing Association.Retrieved from:
Lawrence, C. B. (2012).The Korean English linguistic landscape.World
Englishes.31(1), 70-92. Retrieved from:
/doi/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2011.01741.x/abstract
Lee E. (2007).A wordy problem faces the Koreas. Korea Joongang Daily. Culture
feature.Nov 10,2007. Retrieved from:
daily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2882555
Sueng-woo, K.(2008, September 12). Ruling Out Konglish. The Korea Times.
Retrieved from:
/09/136_30992.html
Appendix A