During the Joseon period, royal titles and styles (forms of address) had been extensive and complex. The general title of the monarch was king ( 왕 ; 王 ; wang ) until Gojong crowned himself emperor ( 황제 ; 皇帝 ; hwangje ), a title that was only allowed for Chinese emperors . Official titles came with official forms of address, depending on who the addressee was and by whom they were addressed.
52-518: Naemyeongbu ( Korean : 내명부 ; Hanja : 內命婦 ), literally Women of the Internal Court , was a category of rank in the royal court of Joseon that referred to concubines and female officials living within the palaces. It was separate from the Oemyeongbu ( Korean : 외명부 ; Hanja : 外命婦 ) category, which consisted of royal women living outside
104-612: A system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation. Modern Korean is written in the Korean script ( 한글 ; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글 ; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during the 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the 20th century. The script uses 24 basic letters ( jamo ) and 27 complex letters formed from
156-527: A Dowager Queen or Depose her. If the Queen Consort did not produce a male heir, similar formal procedures as those used to select the Queen were followed to recruit royal concubines. Women thus selected entered the palace with the junior 2nd rank at the minimum, and they would be granted a special title if they had a son who became Crown Prince . Royal concubines were sometimes selected from women up to
208-484: A Korean influence on Khitan. The hypothesis that Korean could be related to Japanese has had some supporters due to some overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as Samuel E. Martin and Roy Andrew Miller . Sergei Starostin (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese–Korean 100-word Swadesh list . Some linguists concerned with
260-480: A core vowel. The IPA symbol ⟨ ◌͈ ⟩ ( U+0348 ◌͈ COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL LINE BELOW ) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /t͡ɕ͈/, /s͈/ . Its official use in the extensions to the IPA is for "strong" articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice . The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice , but it is not yet known how typical this
312-463: A few extinct relatives which—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form the compact Koreanic language family . Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible . The linguistic homeland of Korean is suggested to be somewhere in contemporary Manchuria . The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to
364-574: A possible relationship.) Hudson & Robbeets (2020) suggested that there are traces of a pre- Nivkh substratum in Korean. According to the hypothesis, ancestral varieties of Nivkh (also known as Amuric ) were once distributed on the Korean Peninsula before the arrival of Koreanic speakers. Korean syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), consisting of an optional onset consonant, glide /j, w, ɰ/ and final coda /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/ surrounding
416-525: A revision to the State Code that girls born to good families would not be recruited. However, Lee Bae-yong suggests that this rule probably only applied to court ladies of the lower ranks, whereas those working closely with the King or Queen potentially continued to be recruited from good families. Girls were recruited between ages 4 to 10, and successful candidates were bound to live their entire lives in
468-535: Is Royal Noble Consort Hui of the Indong Jang clan . The Cheongju Han clan produced 16 Queens, the largest number in Korean history. Queen Sohye, wife of Crown Prince Uigyeong , and a member of the clan, wrote Naehun , a Confucian morality guidebook for women. Korean language Korean ( South Korean : 한국어 , Hanguk-eo ; North Korean : 조선어 , Chosŏnŏ ) is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It
520-656: Is an agglutinative language . The Korean language is traditionally considered to have nine parts of speech . Modifiers generally precede the modified words, and in the case of verb modifiers, can be serially appended. The sentence structure or basic form of a Korean sentence is subject–object–verb (SOV), but the verb is the only required and immovable element and word order is highly flexible, as in many other agglutinative languages. Question 가게에 gage-e store- LOC 가셨어요? ga-syeo-sseo-yo go- HON . PAST - CONJ - POL 가게에 가셨어요? gage-e ga-syeo-sseo-yo store-LOC go-HON.PAST-CONJ-POL 'Did [you] go to
572-511: Is closer to a near-open central vowel ( [ɐ] ), though ⟨a⟩ is still used for tradition. Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending on the preceding sounds. Examples include -eun/-neun ( -은/-는 ) and -i/-ga ( -이/-가 ). Sometimes sounds may be inserted instead. Examples include -eul/-reul ( -을/-를 ), -euro/-ro ( -으로/-로 ), -eseo/-seo ( -에서/-서 ), -ideunji/-deunji ( -이든지/-든지 ) and -iya/-ya ( -이야/-야 ). Some verbs may also change shape morphophonemically. Korean
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#1732781050068624-399: Is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies. The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in both South Korea and North Korea. The English word "Korean" is derived from Goryeo , which is thought to be
676-399: Is of faucalized consonants. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis and additional subglottal pressure in addition to tense vocal tract walls, laryngeal lowering, or other expansion of the larynx. /s/ is aspirated [sʰ] and becomes an alveolo-palatal [ɕʰ] before [j] or [i] for most speakers (but see North–South differences in the Korean language ). This occurs with
728-581: Is the national language of both North Korea and South Korea . Beyond Korea, the language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China , namely Jilin , and specifically Yanbian Prefecture , and Changbai County . It is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin , the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia . The language has
780-747: Is well attested in Western Old Japanese and Northern Ryukyuan languages , in Eastern Old Japanese it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three dialects of the Southern Ryukyuan language group . Also, the doublet wo meaning "hemp" is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryukyuan languages. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term. (See Classification of the Japonic languages or Comparison of Japanese and Korean for further details on
832-524: The Korean dialects , which are still largely mutually intelligible . The Chinese language , written with Chinese characters and read with Sino-Xenic pronunciations , was first introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC, and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century. Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja ) to write their own language, creating scripts known as idu , hyangchal , gugyeol , and gakpil. These systems were cumbersome, due to
884-568: The Three Kingdoms of Korea (not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula), while " -eo " and " -mal " mean "language" and "speech", respectively. Korean is also simply referred to as guk-eo , literally "national language". This name is based on the same Han characters ( 國語 "nation" + "language") that are also used in Taiwan and Japan to refer to their respective national languages. In North Korea and China ,
936-968: The 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By the 17th century, the yangban had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era. In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century, the Gabo Reform of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese. Some newspapers were published entirely in Hangul, but other publications used Korean mixed script , with Hanja for Sino-Korean vocabulary and Hangul for other elements. North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949, but continues to teach them in schools. Their usage in South Korea
988-639: The King or Queen could hold tremendous influence and power, but they typically lost it if a new monarch or consort was installed. At the Top was the Royal Grand Queen Dowager ("taewangtaebi") or in some instances a Royal Queen Dowager ("wangtaebi") The Queen Consort ( jungjeon ; 중전) came second or third in rank depending on the type of Dowager that was present and was immediately followed by 4 categories of high-ranked royal consorts, with 2 levels each: senior ( jeong , 정) and junior ( jong , 종). For
1040-633: The Queen because of their Senior rank. Instead they supervised her activities and ensured that she was governing the ladies of the Palace efficiently. In fact, it was chiefly the influence of the Dowager Queen that challenged a Queen Consort's hegemony as they were able to have the latter Deposed if her behaviour was deemed inappropriate or even elevated to the position of a Dowager Queen or the Queen Consortship, however, she could not appoint
1092-587: The absence of a Queen in the Naemyeongbu, the most senior Dowager Present who was also considered the most able served as a nominal head of the institution and oversaw all the Court Ladies and Palace servants until a Queen was chosen or returned to the Palace. However, even if the Queen headed the harem and the Inner Court, the presence of the elderly widows implied that as they could not be subject to
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#17327810500681144-443: The age of 20. Court ladies of the senior 5th to junior 9th ranks were recruited through various processes depending on the role. They were originally selected from among female servants who worked for public offices or the daughters of gisaeng , but gradually daughters of respectable families came to be recruited. To avoid their daughters being taken into the palace, many such families married off their daughters very young, leading to
1196-552: The age of the crown prince, girls as young as 9 were sometimes considered, which occurred in the selections of Lady Hyegyeong and Queen Sinjeong . A temporary department called the Office of the Royal Wedding ( 가례도감 ; 嘉禮都監 ) was installed to manage all relevant tasks. On announcement of the marriage ban, aristocratic families were required to submit details of their unmarried daughters' birth dates and times, as well as
1248-469: The basic ones. When first recorded in historical texts, Korean was only a spoken language . Since the turn of the 21st century, aspects of Korean culture have spread to other countries through globalization and cultural exports . As such, interest in Korean language acquisition (as a foreign language ) is also generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement, and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since
1300-455: The beginnings of words. /l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/ . A written syllable-final ' ㄹ ', when followed by a vowel or a glide ( i.e. , when the next character starts with ' ㅇ '), migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ] . Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before [j] , and otherwise became /n/ . However,
1352-596: The court ladies. By contrast, gungnyeo refers to all women at court below the senior 1st rank. Within the naemyeongbu , the naegwan ( Korean : 내관 ; Hanja : 內官 ) were concubines from the senior 1st rank to junior 4th rank, and they did not play any role in the household chores of the palace. Ladies from the senior 5th rank to junior 9th rank were called gunggwan ( Korean : 궁관 ; Hanja : 宮官 ), or alternatively yeogwan and nain . They were responsible for various palace chores depending on their position and might work in
1404-733: The end of World War II and the Korean War . Along with other languages such as Chinese and Arabic , Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense . Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean , which in turn descends from Old Korean , which descends from the Proto-Koreanic language , which is generally suggested to have its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria . Whitman (2012) suggests that
1456-533: The exception of one time in which the Queens Insu and Inhye both served as Royal Queens Dowager during the reign of King Seongjong(r. 1469–1494) and as Grand Queens Dowager during the reign of King Yeonsan(r. 1494–1506) which was the first and last time it happened in the Joseon Dynasty and Queen Insu apparently outranked Inhye, her counterpart even though her Husband never reigned as King. As such with
1508-418: The family's genealogical records up to three generations. Candidates were required to be beautiful in appearance and virtuous in character . Those who were not considered physically attractive were disqualified, regardless of their family lineage or virtue. Five to six candidates were selected based on this, which was whittled down to two or three candidates in the second stage, with the bride-to-be selected in
1560-399: The first Korean dynasty known to Western nations. Korean people in the former USSR refer to themselves as Koryo-saram or Koryo-in (literally, " Koryo/Goryeo persons"), and call the language Koryo-mal' . Some older English sources also use the spelling "Corea" to refer to the nation, and its inflected form for the language, culture and people, "Korea" becoming more popular in
1612-456: The fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages, and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of the population was illiterate. In the 15th century King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system , known today as Hangul , to promote literacy among the common people. Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum , it
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1664-495: The highest rank of the senior 5th. However, since they are still in the 5th rank, a favored sanggung would not be considered a member of the Royal Family or part of the naegwan . On some occasions a favored sanggung was promoted to the rank of Sugwon . Officially admitted royal consorts would start from the rank of Sugui . Non-officially admitted royal consorts would start from the rank of Sugwon . The most notable case
1716-479: The inflow of western loanwords changed the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either [ɾ] or [l] . All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) at the end of a word are pronounced with no audible release , [p̚, t̚, k̚] . Plosive sounds /p, t, k/ become nasals [m, n, ŋ] before nasal sounds. Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains
1768-408: The issue between Japanese and Korean, including Alexander Vovin, have argued that the indicated similarities are not due to any genetic relationship , but rather to a sprachbund effect and heavy borrowing, especially from Ancient Korean into Western Old Japanese . A good example might be Middle Korean sàm and Japanese asá , meaning " hemp ". This word seems to be a cognate, but although it
1820-639: The language is most often called Joseon-mal , or more formally, Joseon-o . This is taken from the North Korean name for Korea (Joseon), a name retained from the Joseon dynasty until the proclamation of the Korean Empire , which in turn was annexed by the Empire of Japan . In mainland China , following the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term Cháoxiǎnyǔ or
1872-455: The late 1800s. In South Korea the Korean language is referred to by many names including hanguk-eo ("Korean language"), hanguk-mal ("Korean speech") and uri-mal ("our language"); " hanguk " is taken from the name of the Korean Empire ( 대한제국 ; 大韓帝國 ; Daehan Jeguk ). The " han " ( 韓 ) in Hanguk and Daehan Jeguk is derived from Samhan , in reference to
1924-569: The palace to undergo a consummation ceremony. The next day, she was greeted by all palace staff, after which she went to greet the Queen Dowager(s). An invested Queen of Joseon would then receive formal recognition from the Emperor of China acknowledging her legitimacy. Despite the benefits of one's daughter being selected as the primary wife of the King or Crown Prince, aristocratic families were often reticent to marry their daughters into
1976-490: The palace. Although regulations concerning court ladies were introduced under King Taejo , detailed definitions of ranks, titles, and duties were outlined in the State Code of Joseon , promulgated under King Seongjong , where the term naemyeongbu appears. Naemyeongbu comprised women serving at court and living in the palaces, but excluded the Queen Consort and the Queens Dowager who were beyond rank and oversaw
2028-428: The palace. The young girls were trained in their duties and taught to write in Korean vernacular script , as well as some Chinese characters . They began formally working around ages 11 to 12, with a coming-of-age ceremony held when they turned 18. A woman only became eligible to hold the rank of sanggung (senior 5th) after 35 years of service. Both the head sanggung as well as the sanggung who personally attended
2080-638: The proto-Koreans, already present in northern Korea, expanded into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula at around 300 BC and coexisted with the descendants of the Japonic Mumun cultivators (or assimilated them). Both had influence on each other and a later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families. Since the establishment of two independent governments, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary chosen. However, these minor differences can be found in any of
2132-499: The rank of Bin , the King or Queen would attach a prefix in association with the character/personality of the Royal Consort, such as Huibin ( Hui = Radiant), Sukbin ( Suk = Clarity/Purity), Uibin ( Ui = Appropriate/Fitting), and so forth. However, they are all equal as they hold the same " Bin " rank. Senior 5th sanggung ( 상궁 ; 尙宮 ) and sangui ( 상의 ; 尙儀 ) were the court ladies who served directly under
Naemyeongbu - Misplaced Pages Continue
2184-438: The royal chambers, kitchen, or laundry. The legal spouse of a King or Crown Prince during the Joseon period was selected through a specific procedure that differed from matchmaking practices common outside the royal family. The government issued a ban on marriages in noble households throughout the country, indicating that unmarried daughters of the aristocracy between the ages of 13 and 17 were potential candidates. Depending on
2236-475: The royal family and quickly arranged marriages for their young daughters when a selection was anticipated. One lady of the Gwon clan even feigned insanity during the presentation to avoid being chosen as Crown Princess. In the Joseon Dynasty, the rank between Queens was determined by the position of the reigning King and was divided into three distinct positions i.e The Royal Grand Queen Dowager (Taewangtaebi Mama)
2288-503: The royal family members, or the head manager of their assigned department. Depending on their role and department, there would be internal ranking within the sanggung . For example, a sanggung who served the Queen has higher authority and ranking than a sanggung who serves a prince, princess, and/or concubine. A court lady could also become a sanggung if the King showed favor. They would be called "favored sanggung " or "special court lady" (" seungeun sanggung ") and would be considered
2340-669: The short form Cháoyǔ has normally been used to refer to the standard language of North Korea and Yanbian , whereas Hánguóyǔ or the short form Hányǔ is used to refer to the standard language of South Korea. Korean is a member of the Koreanic family along with the Jeju language . Some linguists have included it in the Altaic family, but the core Altaic proposal itself has lost most of its prior support. The Khitan language has several vocabulary items similar to Korean that are not found in other Mongolian or Tungusic languages, suggesting
2392-675: The store?' Response 예/네. ye/ne AFF Styles and titles in the Joseon dynasty When a prince became king, he was addressed as such, personal names were not used. After the death of a king, he was given several names. One is the temple name ( 묘호 ; 廟號 ; myoho ), which was given when the spirit tablet was placed at the Jongmyo Shrine . This is the name by which historians usually refer to Joseon kings. The myoho could end in either jo ( 조 ; 祖 ; lit. 'progenitor') or jong ( 종 ; 宗 ; lit. 'ancestor'). The preceding syllable
2444-441: The tense fricative and all the affricates as well. At the end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (example: beoseot ( 버섯 ) 'mushroom'). /h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u] , a palatal [ç] before [j] or [i] , a velar [x] before [ɯ] , a voiced [ɦ] between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere. /p, t, t͡ɕ, k/ become voiced [b, d, d͡ʑ, ɡ] between voiced sounds. /m, n/ frequently denasalize at
2496-429: The third round. This third presentation was conducted in the presence of the King and Queen Dowager, who consulted the three state councillors before making the final decision. After selection, gifts of silk and jewellery were sent to the bride's family, and the bride moved to a detached palace where she was instructed in palace etiquette. The wife of a King was then formally invested as Queen, after which she moved into
2548-464: The underlying, partly historical morphology . Given this, it is sometimes hard to tell which actual phonemes are present in a certain word. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /ɾ/ became a morphological rule called "initial law" ( 두음법칙 ) in the pronunciation standards of South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial /ɾ/ in the pronunciation standards of North Korea. For example, ^NOTE ㅏ
2600-579: Was an adjective suitable for the king. The other name was the posthumous name ( 시호 ; 諡號 ; siho ). This is a longer name, made up of adjectives characteristic of the king's rule. For example, King Gyeongjong 's posthumous name was King Deokmun Ikmu Sunin Seonhyo the Great ( 덕문익무순인선효대왕 ; 德文翼武純仁宣孝大王 ), while his temple name was Gyeongjong ( 경종 ; 景宗 ). Forms of address were combined with names, titles or both, for example: 君 Each royal consort ( 후궁 ; 後宮 ; hugung ) in
2652-585: Was called eonmun ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea. The Korean alphabet was denounced by the yangban aristocracy, who looked down upon it too easy to learn. However, it gained widespread use among the common class and was widely used to print popular novels which were enjoyed by the common class. Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices entirely written in Hangul as early as
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#17327810500682704-660: Was either the reigning King's Grandmother or on the other hand, the Eldest Dowager of two Widow Queens present in the Palace. The Royal Queen Dowager (Wangtaebi Mama) was either the King's mother in most cases or the Immediate Royal Widow of the previous King The Queen Consort (Wangbi Mama or Jungjeon) was the incumbent Principal Consort of the Reigning King by official amendment. Each of these positions could only be occupied by one individual with
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