The Korean language has a system of linguistic honorifics that reflects the social status of speakers. 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"; in other words, the speaker uses honorific and humble forms to lower themselves when speaking.Han, G. (2002). Research on Korean honorifics. Seoul: Yeokrak. The honorific system is reflected in honorific particles, verbs with special honorific forms, honorific markers, and special honorific forms of nouns that include terms of address.
Impact of age
The age difference between speakers affects honorific usage. 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 before, the same, or after their own. The hierarchy is expressed through the terms () and (), both of which mean 'elder brother'; () and (), both of which mean 'elder sister'; and (). The terms are not limited to one's familial relatives.Some Koreans believe it is unreasonable to use honorifics when the age difference between speakers is small and try to differentiate the use of honorifics based on closeness within a small age gap.
The contemporary hierarchy and customs of North and South Korea were shaped by Japanese colonial rule and the era during which Park Chung-hee, a former member of the Japanese military, led the military dictatorship in South Korea. Before 1945, Japan operated its schools under a strict military-like hierarchy; the age hierarchy was more strict than it is now. These elements of the Empire of Japan greatly influenced Korean society. After Japan's defeat in 1945, this hierarchy was greatly weakened in Japanese society due to the disbandment of the Japanese military and the establishment of a civilian government; in Korea, elements of the Japanese military persisted. Many remnants of the age hierarchy system remain. In Korea, it is common to frequently ask people about their age.
Honorific particles 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.Lee, 1. S., & Ramsey, S. R. (2000). The Korean language. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Sohn, H.-M. (1999). The Korean language. New York: Cambridge University Press There is no honorific expression for inanimate -. The honorific version of - is -.National Institute of Korean Language "Standard Korean Language Dictionary", '께 (-kke)' (https://stdict.korean.go.kr/search/searchView.do) For example, while is neutral and denotes the role of the noun as the subject of the sentence, still means 'teacher', but it indicates that the sentence in which it occurs is an honorific sentence and the speaker is treating the subject, , courteously.
Base noun Plain Particles Honorific ParticlesSubject particleAfter vowelAfter consonant---Dative particleInanimateAnimate--- Honorific pronouns and nouns
In Korean, the honorific form of first-person pronouns are humble forms; speakers refer to themselves with humble pronouns and humble verb forms to make themselves lower. Plain formHumble formTranslationFirst person pronouns'I' 'we'
Second-person pronouns do not appear in honorific conversation and professional titles and kinship terms are used instead, in a phenomenon known as pronoun avoidance. The most common terms of address are kinship terms, which are divided into plain and honorific levels. The honorific suffix - is affixed to many kinship terms to make them honorific. Thus, someone may address his own grandmother as but refer to someone else's grandmother as .Sohn, C. S. (2010). Hyentaykwuke hochingeuy yuhyengkwa thuksengey tayhan yenkwu [Study on modem Korean's address term types and characteristics]. Korean Semantics, 33, 95-129.
Unlike Japanese, which allows a title to be used alone for addressing people when an honorific expression is required (e.g., 'teacher', '[company] president', 'professor'), Korean does not allow lone titles for addressing people. It is considered impolite to address someone as or without a suffix such as the honorific -—except when addressing social equals or those lower in status.
Base nounHonorificTranslation'grandfather''grandmother''father''mother''elder brother [of a male]''elder sister [of a male]', 'elder brother [of a female]''elder sister [of a female]''son''daughter' Addressee honorification Addressee honorification () refers to the way the speaker uses honorifics towards the listener. It is the most developed honorification in Korean, which is mainly realized by the closing expression, which is then largely divided into formal and informal forms, and categorized into six stages according to the degree of honorific.Lee Eun Hee, ‹A Study of Instructional Content of Honorific Expressions in Korean Language Education›, "Grammar Education" 13th, Korean Association of Grammar Education, 2010.
Formal forms include:
the form, which is the most polite form; the form, which is moderately addressee-raising; the form, which is moderately addressee-lowering; the form, which is the most non-polite form.
Informal forms include:
the form, which is the informal addressee-raising form; the form, which is the informal addressee-lowering form.
For example, the sentence "Read this book." can be written differently by using different closing expressions, such as:Song Jinwoo, "Basic Korean Language Dictionary for Middle School Students", Shinwon, 2007.
(), which uses the form; (), which uses the form; (), which uses the form; (), which uses the form; (), which uses the form; (), which uses the form.
One must use honorific endings and/or in a formal situation or when addressing acquaintances or strangers, regardless of their age or social status (except pre-adolescent children). The following are honorific endings for the four major types of sentences:
Declarative ; Interrogative ; Propositive ; Imperative
However, in informal situations such as speaking to close friends or family members, these honorific endings are usually dropped and substituted with or .
The setting, ages, occupations, and other factors contribute to the relations between speaker, addressee, and the referent within this system. Traditionally, Korean honorifics were based on hierarchical relation in society, such as rank in occupations, but this has changed over time to develop into a system based on politeness and closeness. Hierarchy-based honorific endings are forgone with relationships such as one between older and younger sibling in which the younger sibling uses the endings in place of without change in respect, instead exhibiting closeness in the relationship. Furthermore, the use of —or honorific language—towards someone who is perceived as close can be perceived as socially awkward or emotionally distant (or in other contexts, playful or sarcastic); whereas, the use of —or crude language—towards one who is a stranger or acquaintance would be perceived as rude.Korean Language in Culture And Society, Chapter 11: The Structure and Use of Korean Honorifics, 2006.
Honorific verbs When the subject of the conversation is older or has higher seniority than the speaker, the Korean honorific system primarily index the subject by adding the honorific suffix -시 (-si) or -으시 (-eusi) into the stem verb.
Thus, 가다 (; 'to go') becomes 가시다 (). A few verbs have suppletive honorific forms:
Base form Regular honorific Translation 가다 (gada) 가시다 (gasida) 'to go' 받다 (batda) 받으시다 (badeusida) 'to receive' 작다 (jakda) 작으시다 (jageusida) '(to be) small' Base form Suppletive honorific Translation 있다 (itda) 계시다 (gyesida) 'to be (somewhere, at a place); to have' 마시다 (masida) 드시다 (deusida) 'to drink' 먹다 (meokda) 드시다 (deusida) 'to eat' 먹다 (meokda) 잡수시다 (japsusida) 'to eat' 자다 (jada) 주무시다 (jumusida) 'to sleep' 배고프다 (baegopeuda) 시장하시다 (sijanghasida) 'to be hungry'
A few verbs have suppletive humble forms, used when the speaker is referring to themself in polite situations. These include 드리다 () and 올리다 () for 주다 (; 'to give'). () is substituted for 주다 (juda) when the latter is used as an auxiliary verb, while 올리다 (ollida; 'to raise up') is used for 주다 (juda) in the sense of 'to offer'.
Honorific forms of address Korean pronouns have their own set of polite equivalents; for instance, 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na) for the first-person singular pronoun 'I', and 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri) for the first-person plural pronoun 'we'. However, Korean allows for coherent syntax without pronouns, effectively making Korean a so-called pro-drop language; thus, Koreans avoid using the second-person singular pronoun, especially when using honorific forms. Third-person pronouns are occasionally avoided as well, mainly to maintain a sense of politeness. Although the honorific form of the second-person singular pronoun 너 (neo) is 당신 (dangsin; ), this term is used only as a form of address in a few specific social contexts, such as between people who are married to each other, or in an ironic sense between strangers. Other words are usually substituted where possible; e.g., the person's name, a kinship term, a professional title, the plural 여러분 yeoreobun, or no word at all, relying on context to supply meaning instead.
Spacing spelling convention The National Institute of Korean Language classifies nim/ssi/gun/yang as dependent nouns that follow a proper noun, and they prescribe that a space should appear between a noun and its dependent noun (e.g., ( jaebeom nim). This is not to be confused with the affix -nim, used with common nouns, since affixes are written without spaces (e.g., seonsaengnim).
-a / -ya Korean has the vocative case markers which grammatically identify a person, animal, or object being addressed so that they eliminate possible grammatical ambiguities. is a casual title used at the end of names, and is not gender exclusive. If a name ends in a consonant, -a is used (e.g., Jinyoung-a), while -ya is used if the name ends in a vowel (e.g., Yeji-ya). -a/-ya is used only between close friends and people who are familiar with each other, and its use between strangers or distant acquaintances could be considered extremely rude. -a/-ya is only used hierarchically horizontally or downwards: an adult or parent may use it for young children, and those with equal social standing may use it with each other, but a young individual will not use -a/-ya towards one who is older than oneself or holds a higher status than oneself.
Middle Korean had three classes of the vocative case, but practically only is remaining in everyday life. is only used in literature and archaic expressions, and has completely disappeared.
-ssi The honorific suffix --ssi is the most commonly used honorific used amongst people of approximately equal speech level, and is equivalent to English honorifics Mr./Ms./Mrs. It is attached after the full name (e.g., ), or simply after the first name (e.g., Seokmin-ssi) if the speaker is more familiar with someone. Appending -ssi to the surname (e.g., Bak-ssi) can be considered quite rude, as it indicates the speaker considers themself to be of a higher social status than the person with whom they are speaking.
-nim