Korean honorifics
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In Korean language, the relationship between a speaker or writer and his or her subject and audience is paramount, and the grammar reflects this. The relationship between speaker/writer and subject is reflected in honorifics, while that between speaker/writer and audience is reflected in speech level. It closely resembles the honorific systems of the Japanese language. (see Japanese honorifics)
[edit] Honorifics
When talking about someone superior in status, a speaker or writer has to use special nouns or verb endings to indicate the subject's superiority. Generally, someone is superior in status if he/she is an older relative, a stranger of roughly equal or greater age, or an employer, teacher, customer, or the like. Someone is equal or inferior in status if he/she is a younger stranger, student, employee or the like. The use of wrong speech levels or diction is likely to be considered insulting, depending on the degree of difference between the used form and the expected form.
One way of using honorifics is to use special nouns in place of regular nouns with "honorific" ones. A common example is using 진지 (jinji) instead of 밥 (bap) for "food". More often, special nouns are used when speaking about relatives. Thus, the speaker/writer may address his own grandmother as 할머니 (halmeoni) but refer to someone else's grandmother as 할머님 (halmeonim). The honorific suffix -님 (-nim) is affixed to many kinship terms to make them honorific; thus, 형님 (hyeongnim) is the formal term for an older sibling of the same sex (derived from 형 hyeong), the informal term for man's older brother. Similarly, 누님 (nunim) is the formal term for a man's older sister (derived from 누나 nuna) and 오라버님 (orabeonim) is the formal term for a woman's older brother (derived from 오라버니 orabeoni, another formal variant of 오빠 obba).
All verbs can be converted into an honorific form by adding the infix -시- (-si-, pronounced shi) after the stem and before the verb ending. Thus, 가다 (gada, "go") becomes 가시다 (gasida). A few verbs have special honorific equivalents. Therefore 계시다 (gyesida) is the honorific form of 있다 (itda, "exist"); 드시다 (deusida) and 잡수시다 (japsusida) is the honorific form of 먹다 (meokda, "eat"); and 주무시다 (jumushida) is the honorific form of 자다 (jada, "sleep").
A few verbs have special humble forms, used when the speaker is referring to him/herself in polite situations. These include 드리다 (deurida) and 올리다 (ollida) for 주다 (juda, "give"). Deurida is substituted for juda when the latter is used as an auxiliary verb, while ollida — which literally means "raise up" — is used for juda in the sense of "offer".
Pronouns in Korean have their own set of polite equivalents: thus, 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na, "I"); 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri, "we"); and 당신 (dangsin, "friend," but only used as a form of address and more polite than "chingu", the usual word for "friend" (Note: dangsin is also sometimes used as the Korean equivalent of "dear," so use at your own risk); also, whereas uses of other humble forms are straightforward, "dangsin" must be used only in specific social contexts, such as between two married couples — "dangsin" can often be used in an ironic sense when used between strangers) is the honorific form of 너 (neo, "you" (singular). Note: in general, Koreans avoid using the second person singular pronoun, especially when using honorific forms, and either i) use the person's name, kinship term, or title in place of "you" in English, ii) use plural 여러분 yeoreobun where applicable, or iii) avoid using a pronoun, relying on context to supply meaning instead).
[edit] Speech levels
There are no fewer than 7 verb paradigms or speech levels in Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb endings which are used to indicate the level of formality of a situation. Unlike "honorifics" — which are used to show respect towards a subject — speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience. The names of the 7 levels are derived from the non-honorific imperative form of the verb 하다 (hada, "do") in each level, plus the suffix 체 ('che', Hanja: 體), which means "style."
The highest 5 levels use final verb endings and are generally grouped together as jondaemal (존대말), while the lowest 2 levels (해요체 haeyoche and 해체 haeche) use non-final endings and are called 반말 (banmal, "half-words") in Korean. (The haeyoche in turn is formed by simply adding the non-final ending -요 (-yo) to the haeche form of the verb.)
Taken together, honorifics and speech levels form a cartesian product of 14 basic verb stems. Here is a table giving the 7 levels, the present indicative form of the verb 하다 (hada, "do" in English) in each level in both its honorific and non-honorific forms, and the situations in which each level is used.
These days, some of these speech levels are disappearing and people don't use them much in everyday lives. Hasoseoche, which is only used in movies or dramas describing old times, is barely used by Koreans, and Hageche exists almost only in novels. But interestingly, Haoche is becoming more and more popular among people in their teens and 20's, and this phenomenon is considered to be one of the influences by internet users. Usually Haoche is used in only movies and dramas (similar with Hasoseoche) but it is now popular (in some internet websites, e.g. dcinside.com) among internet users but not in everyday lives. Haoche is usually considered as a male-tongue, but interestingly today's internet-based Haoche is very popular in Ewhaian.com which is for students of Ewha Womans University.
| Speech Level | Non-Honorific Present Indicative of "hada" | Honorific Present Indicative of "hada" | Level of Formality | When Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasoseoche (하소서체) |
hanaida (하나이다) |
hasinaida (하시나이다) |
Extremely formal and polite | Traditionally used when addressing a king, queen, or high official; now used only in historical dramas and the Bible |
| Hapsyoche (합쇼체) |
hamnida (합니다) |
hasimnida (하십니다) |
Formal and polite | Used commonly between strangers, among male co-workers, by TV announcers, and to customers |
| Haoche (하오체) |
hao (하오) |
hasyo (하쇼), hasio (하시오) |
Formal, of neutral politeness | Spoken form only used nowadays among some older people. Young people sometimes use it as an Internet dialect after it was popularized by historical dramas. |
| Hageche (하게체) |
hane (하네) |
hasine (하시네) |
Formal, of neutral politeness | Generally only used by some older people when addressing younger people, friends, or relatives |
| Haerache (해라체) |
handa (한다) |
hasinda (하신다) |
Formal, of neutral politeness or impolite | Used to close friends, relatives of similar age, or younger people; also used almost universally in books, newspapers, and magazines; also used in reported speech ("She said that...") |
| Haeyoche (해요체) |
haeyo (해요) |
haseyo (하세요) (common), hasyeoyo (하셔요) (rare) |
Informal and polite | Used mainly between strangers, especially those older or of equal age. Traditionally used more by women than men, though in Seoul many men prefer this form to the Hapshoche (see above). |
| Haeche (해체) |
hae (해) (in speech), hayeo (하여) (in writing) |
hasyeo(하셔) |
Informal, of neutral politeness or impolite | Used most often between close friends and relatives, and when addressing younger people. It is never used between strangers unless the speaker wants to pick a fight or the listener is a child. |
