Languages of the World - Japanese, Korean and Altaic

<lang>Korean</lang><br><ldata>Koreanic - Korea</ldata>

Psy - Gangnam Style

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### Fact of the Day

"Gangnam" is a wealthy area of Seoul, known for a very high standard of living

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### Fact of the Day

"Gangnam" is a wealthy area of Seoul, known for a very high standard of living

... and "Oppa" is the "Older Brother" honorific kinship term used by a younger woman to an older man

* So, he's saying to his young, female audience "Hey, this respected older man is Gangnam Style."

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<img class="r-stretch big" src="humorimg/themoreyouknow.jpg" alt="$txt"> 
 
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### Administrative Notes

* Will's office hours are cancelled tomorrow and next week.  Sorry!

* Material from guest lectures is totally test-eligible

* Remember, the slides are online

* ... and if you use "print" or "View Source" in Chrome, you can copy-paste the text into your notes

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# Japanese, Korean, and "Altaic"
### LING 1020 - Will Styler

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### Today's Agenda

* Korean

* Japanese

* "Altaic"

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### Today, we're going to be seeing a lot of Honorifics!

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# Korean

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### Korean

* Some say it's an isolate, others say it's "Altaic"

* We'll get there.
	
* Spoken by around 80 million people

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### Features of Korean

* Agglutinative, SOV

* Vowel length and Vowel Harmony

* Hangul Writing System

* "Faucalized" or "Tense" consonants

* Honorifics

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### We know all about Agglutination, SOV order, Vowel Length and Vowel harmony

* So, let's jump to the fun stuff

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## Hangul Writing System

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### Korean used to use *hanja*, an ideographic writing system

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### Ideographic Writing System

Each concept or word has a symbol, with no correspondence to sound

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### Ideographic Writing System

Each concept or word has a symbol, with no correspondence to sound

<danger>What are some problems with using an ideographic writing system?</danger>

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## Hangul Writing System

* Created by Sejong the Great in 1443

* Replaced the Hanja ideographic writing system

* Which was originally adapted from Chinese characters
	
* This is a *really* slick writing system

* It's a deeply *phonetic* alphabet

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### Hangul is Phonetic!

* Velar consonants (아음, 牙音 a-eum "molar sounds")
	* ㄱ g [k], ㅋ k [kʰ]
	
* Coronal consonants (설음, 舌音 seoreum "lingual sounds"):
	* ㄴ n [n], ㄷ d [t], ㅌ t [tʰ], ㄹ r [ɾ, l]

* Bilabial consonants (순음, 唇音 suneum "labial sounds"):
	* ㅁ m [m], ㅂ b [p], ㅍ p [pʰ]

* Sibilant consonants (치음, 齒音 chieum "dental sounds"):
	* ㅅ s [s], ㅈ j [tɕ], ㅊ ch [tɕʰ]

* Dorsal consonants (후음, 喉音 hueum "throat sounds"):
	* ㅇ ng [ʔ, ŋ], ㅎ h [h]
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### Syllable blocks are constructed by combining consonant symbols and vowel symbols

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**English**

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

**Korean**

모든 인간은 태어날 때부터 자유로우며 그 존엄과 권리에 있어 동등하다. 인간은 천부적으로 이성과 양심을 부여받았으며 서로 형제애의 정신으로 행동하여야 한다.

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### Which East Asian Language am I looking at?

* Japanese has small, curvy strokes with interspersed complex characters

* Chinese has mostly square-ish, complex characters.

* Korean has lots of circles and horizontal/vertical lines.

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すべての人間は、生まれながらにして自由であり、かつ、尊厳と権利と について平等である。人間は、理性と良心とを授けられており、互いに同 胞の精神をもって行動しなければならない。

is...

A) Chinese

B) Korean

C) Japanese

* <correct>See the mix of curves and characters?  Japanese!</correct>

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is...

A) Chinese

B) Korean

C) Japanese

* <correct>Lots of circles, and straight lines!  Korean!</correct>

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人 人 生 而 自 由, 在 尊 严 和 权 利 上 一 律 平 等。 他 们 赋 有 理 性 和 良 心, 并 应 以 兄 弟 关 系 的 精 神 相 对 待。

is...

A) Chinese

B) Korean

C) Japanese

* <correct>That's a lot of complex characters.  Chinese!</correct>

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## Tense Consonants!

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### Korean Tense Consonants

* When Korean speakers do... something... during consonants

* These are sometimes called "Double consonants"

* We linguists have little idea what's going on here

* Maybe pitch?  Sub-glottal pressure?

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# ㅅ vs. ㅆ

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## Honorifics!

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### Korean Honorifics

* In Korean, verbs and adjectives take different morphemes marking relative social status

* There are 7 different sets of verb conjugations based on formality

* Different affixes and pronouns create different "speech levels"

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### Korean Speech Levels

* -ㅂ니다 - Honorific, Most Polite, Most Formal

* -(아/어/여)요 - Polite, natural, a bit formal

* -아/어/여 - Casual, Informal or Intimate

* Usually used for younger people or close friends
	
	* You can ask permission to switch to this style
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### Many Languages have formal vs. informal forms of address!

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The most common is called the "T/V Distinction", where there's a simple "formal" and "informal" form

---
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Spanish</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">French</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Russian</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">German</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">Formal</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Usted</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Vous</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Вы</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Sie</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">Informal</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Tu</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Tu</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Ты</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Du</td>
  </tr>
</table>

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<lang>Archaic English</lang><br><ldata>IE:Germanic - Shakespeare and the KJV Bible</ldata> 
 
* Thou lovest Enchiladas

* You love Enchiladas

* **Thou is informal!**

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* <danger>What *use* can you see for such an honorific system in language?</danger>

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# Japonic Languages

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### Japonic Languages

* Maybe be a top-level language, may be Altaic

* Main branch: Japanese (and its dialects) - Spoken by 125 Million People

* Other branch: Ryūkyūan languages

* These are all endangered. :(
	
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<lang>Okinawan</lang><br><ldata>Japonic:Riyukyuan - Okinawa</ldata>

### Features of Japanese

* SOV word order, agglutinative

* CVCVCV Syllable Structure

* The Japanese "R"

* Extensive use of particles

* Extensive Honorific System

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## Preference for CVCV

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<lang>Japanese</lang><br><ldata>Japonic - Japan</ldata>

‘Merry Christmas' - merii kurisumasu

<small>([Image and Sound Credit](http://japanese.about.com/library/blqow33.htm))</small>

* *Japanese does not allow anything but consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel*

<audio data-autoplay src="phonmedia/japanese_christmas.mp3"></audio>
 
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## The Japanese "R"

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Japanese and Korean speakers often struggle with the English "L" and "R"

* ### This is because Japanese and Korean have neither and both!

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The English R (/ɹ/) is an Alveolar Approximant

* The English L (/l/) is an Alveolar Lateral Approximant

* The Japanese "R" is a postalveolar flap *which is not defined for laterality*.

* This means that it can be lateral or not, and nobody cares
	
* The Korean "R" is very similar

* Although it's slightly more predictable there.

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When speaking Japanese and Korean, "lateral" is not a meaningful difference.

* **When Japanese and Korean speakers speak English, this makes life difficult!**

* Japanese and Korean speakers can master our very weird /ɹ/, but it takes time.

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## Particles

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### Japanese uses particles to give meaning to words in a sentence

* These particles act as a sort of "comment" on the topics raised

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<lang>Japanese</lang><br><ldata>Japonic - Japan</ldata>

**dokoro ka** - "Anything but" or "Far from"

*Kare wa keisatsukan **dokoro ka**, hanzaisha da.*

he be policeman dokoro ka, criminal be.

"Far from a policeman, he's a criminal!"

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<lang>Japanese</lang><br><ldata>Japonic - Japan</ldata>

**ka na** - "I wonder" (but I strongly suspect)

*Kare wa ayashii hito **ka na**.*

He be suspicious person ka na.

"I'm starting to wonder if he's a suspicious person.

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<lang>Japanese</lang><br><ldata>Japonic - Japan</ldata>

**nanka** - Shows disgust

*Jogen **nanka** iranai.*

Advice nanka I.need.not

"I don't need any (damn) advice!"

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## Japanese Honorifics

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### Honorifics in Japanese

* Word beautification (Adding prefixes to words to make them more "beautiful")

* Politeness registers

* Honorific Verb forms

* Honorific Titles

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### Politeness Registers

* Many different ways to say "I ask you for a favor"

* **Between friends** - yoroshiku tanomu.

* **Polite** - yoroshiku tanomimasu

* **Business Formal** - yoroshiku onegai shimasu

* **Humble Formal** - yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

* **Super-Polite formal** - yoroshiku onegai mōshiagemasu.

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### Honorific Verb Forms

Different verbs are used depending on how polite you're being

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### Politeness forms of "To Eat"

* Dictionary: Tabe-ru. 食べる

* Neutrally polite: Tabe-masu. 食べます

* Kinda polite: Tabe-rare-masu. 食べられます

* Super polite: Meshi'agari-masu. 召し上がります

* Humble: Itadaki-masu. 頂きます

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### If you're being polite, you may need to use an entirely different verb to say the same thing!

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### Honorific titles

* San (Title of respect between people of any age)

* Sama (People much higher in rank than yourself)

* Kun (People of lower rank, or close friends)

* Chan (Diminutive)

* Sensei (Teachers, doctors, politicians)

* Shi (People you've never met but respect)

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### There's [a great deal more to Formality in Japanese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese)

* ... but we never have time *nanka*.

* That's the disgust particle.  Get it?!

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<lang>Japanese</lang><br><ldata>Japonic - Japan</ldata> 
<iframe data-autoplay width="840" height="500" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IHA9FS3D9vw"></iframe> 
 
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"Wow, there sure are a lot of similarities between Japanese and Korean"

* **Maybe they're related!**

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# Altaic

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### "Altaic"

* A proposed top-level family like Indo-European

* Attempts to unite Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, Japonic, and Ainu

* Still rather controversial

* Yelling "Altaic is historically accurate" is a great way to start a fistfight at an LSA conference

* Two proposed groupings: "Macro-Altaic" and "Micro-Altaic"

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**Macro-Altaic**: Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, Japonic, Ainu

(Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Purple and Maroon, respectively)

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**Micro-Altaic**: Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic

(Blue, Green, and Red respectively)

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### My Deepest Apologies to Mongolic, Tungusic, and Ainu

* These are all awesome language families, we just don't have the time.

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### Macro- and Micro-Altaic

* There's more evidence for Micro-Altaic than for Macro-

* Ethnologue includes Micro-Altaic, but not Macro
	
* Most Altaic supporters now believe in Macro-Altaic

* Many people still believe in neither!

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### "Why can't we all just get along?"

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### The Altaic Controversy

* **Pro-Altaic** - "These similarities come from genetics"

* **Anti-Altaic** - "These similarities come from contact and borrowings"

* <danger>Why is this debate difficult to prove or win?</danger>

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### People are pretty much dug in

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### So, is Altaic real, or not?

* ## Maybe.

* ... but even if it isn't, it's useful to know that the "Altaic" languages share some similarities

* ... and you should probably know what families may be Altaic for the test...
	
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### Wrapping Up

* Korean is awesome.

* ... and has tons of Honorifics
	
* Japanese is awesome

* ... and has tons of Honorifics
	
* Altaic may be a top-level language family

* * ... and it's nice to know about, in case you ever need to make a quiet escape from a typology conference
	
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## In Recitation

* Restoring Honor(ifics) to English

* <danger>HW4 is due in Recitation!</danger>

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## Next time: Austronesian Languages (with Niloo!)

<correct>Read Pereltsvaig Ch. 8</correct>

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<huge>Thank you!</huge>
	
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