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 is to 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 everchanging 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 like 니스 on 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 or 마이크 (“ma-ee-kuh”); juice or 주스 (“juiceuh”); and skate or 스케이트 (“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 or 조시 (“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-laesuh”) 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 into 컴퓨터 (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 서비스 or service (meaning free, complimentary or on the house in
Konglish) and 레스토랑 or 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 “gaeguh-maen”) meaning comedian; and 프리 사이즈 (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 is 감자 칩 (or “gam-jachip”) 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 백 뮤식 (back music, or “baek
myu-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 communicating with 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
2
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
Syllables
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
Syllables
Josh
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
(좀비) 
English
Syllables
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
Trash
Trashy
Orange
오렌지
Dollar
달러
Breath
Breathe
Moose
Moos
Cola
콜라
Tease
Teas
Homophone
Yes or No
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:
http://journals.cambridge.org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/action/displayFulltext?type=6&
fid=8587174&jid=ENG&volumeId=28&issueId=02&aid=8587173&fulltextType=RA
&fileId=S0266078412000107
Fullerton, C. (2009, December 12). Origins of Konglish. The Korea Times. Retrieved
from: http://www.koreatimes.kr/www/news/opinon/2014/02/162_57881.html
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: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/46674)
Korean Phonemic Inventory. (2014). (Chart showing all phonemes of Korean
language). American Speech Language Hearing Association. Retrieved from:
http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/practice/multicultural/KoreanPhonemicInven
tory.pdf
Lawrence, C. B. (2012). The Korean English linguistic landscape. World
Englishes. 31(1), 70-92. Retrieved from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
/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: http://koreajoongang
daily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2882555
Sueng-woo, K. (2008, September 12). Ruling Out Konglish. The Korea Times.
Retrieved from: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008
/09/136_30992.html
Appendix A