Korean honorifics

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.[2][3]

There is no honorific expression for inanimate '에(-e)'. The honorific version of '에게(-ege)' is '께(-kke)'.[4]

For example,  while -선생님- (-seonsaengnim-) ‘teacher’ is neutral and -선생님이- (-seonsaengnimi-) denotes the role of the noun as the subject of the sentence, -선생님께서- (-seonsaengnimkkeseo-) still means ‘teacher’, but it indicates that the sentence in which it occurs is an honorific sentence and the speaker is treating the subject, -선생님- (-seonsaengnim-), courteously.

In the Korean language, the honorific form of first person pronouns are humble forms, which speakers use to refer to themselves with humble pronouns and humble verb forms to make him/herself lower.[3]

Korean second person pronouns do not appear in honorific conversation and professional titles and kinship terms are used.[5] The most common terms of address are kinship terms, which are divided into plain and honorific levels.[3][2]

The honorific suffix -님 (-nim) is affixed to many kinship terms to make them honorific. Thus, someone may address his own grandmother as 할머니 (halmeoni) but refer to someone else's grandmother as 할머님 (halmeonim).[6]

Unlike the Japanese language, which allows a title to be used alone for addressing people when an honorific expression is required (e.g.,社長 (shacho)‘president’, 教授 (kyojyu) ‘professor’), Korean does not allow lone titles for addressing people. It is impolite to address someone as 사장 (sajang) ‘president,’ 교수 (gyosu) ‘professor,’ etc. without a suffix. In Korean, those job titles would be followed by the honorific suffix -님 (-nim) except when addressing social equals or those lower in status.[7]

'상대 높임법 (Addressee Honorification)' refers to the way the speaker uses honorifics towards the listener. '상대 높임법 (Addressee Honorification)' is the most developed honorification in Korean Language which is mainly realized by the closing expression, which is then largely divided into formal and informal forms, and categorised into 6 stages according to the degree of honorific. [8]

Formal forms include:

• the '하십시오 체 (hasipsio form)' which is extremely polite form,
• the '하오 체 (hao form)' which is moderately addressee-raising,
• the 하게 체 (hage form)' which is moderately addressee-lowering
• and the '해라 체 (haera form)' which is extremely low form.

Informal forms include the '해요 체 (haeyo form)' which is informal addressee-raising and the '해 체 (hae form)' which is informal addressee-lowering.

For example, you can write the following sentence differently by using different closing expressions. "Read this book."

"이 책을 읽으십시오. (I chaegeul ilgeusipsio.)" : It uses '하십시오 체 (hasipsio form)'.

"이 책을 읽으시오. (I chaegeul ilgeusio.)" : It uses '하오 체 (hao form)'.

"이 책을 읽게. (I chaegeul ilgge.)" : It uses '하게 체 (hage form)'.

"이 책을 읽어라. (I chaegeul ilgeora.)" : It uses '해라 체 (haera form)'.

"이 책을 읽어요. (I chaegeul ilgeoyo.)" : It uses '해요 체 (haeyo form)'.

"이 책을 읽어. (I chaegeul ilgeo.)" : It uses '해 체 (hae form)'.[9]

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 infix -시- (-si-) or -으시- (-eusi-) into the stem verb.[7]

Thus, 가다 (gada, "to go") becomes 가시다 (gasida). A few verbs have suppletive honorific forms:

A few verbs have suppletive 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"). 드리다 (deurida) is substituted for 주다 (juda) when the latter is used as an auxiliary verb, while 올리다 (ollida, literally "raise up") is used for 주다 (juda) in the sense of "offer".

Pronouns in Korean have their own set of polite equivalents (e.g., 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na, "I") and 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri, "we")). However, Korean language allows for coherent syntax without pronouns, effectively making Korean a so-called pro-drop language, thus Koreans usually 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 honorific form of 너 (neo, singular "you") is 당신 (dangsin, literally, "friend" or "dear"), that 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).

When speaking to someone about another person, you must calculate the relative difference in position between the person you are referring to and the person you are speaking to. This is known as apjonbeop 압존법(壓尊法) or “relative honorifics”.

'압존법 (Relative honorifics)' is usually used in the home or relationship between teacher and student. For example, "할아버지, 아버지가 아직 안 왔습니다. (Harabeoji, abeojiga ajik an watseumnida.)"[12] means "Grandfather, father hasn't come yet." Both grandfather and father are in higher position than the speaker, but grandfather is much higher than father. In this special case, Korean do not use honorific expression on father to admire grandfather. Therefore, in this sentence, "아버지가 (abeojiga)" is used rather than "아버지께서 (abeojikkeseo)" and "왔습니다(watseumnida)" rather than "오셨습니다 (osyeotseumnida)".

For example, one must change the post positional particle and verb if the person you are speaking to is a higher position (age, title, etc.) than the person you are referring to. "부장님, 이 과장님께서는 지금 자리에 안 계십니다 (bujangnim, I gwajangnimkkeseoneun jigeum jarie an gyesimnida)" This means, "General Manager, Manager Lee is not at his desk now", with the bolded parts elevating the manager higher than the general manager, even though they both are in a higher position than you. The general manager would be offended by the fact that you elevated the manager above him. However, '압존법(Relative honorifics)' in the workplace is far from Korean traditional language etiquette.[13] In front of the superior, lowering another superior who is in a lower position may apply in private relationships, such as between family members and between teacher and student. But it is awkward to use it at the workplace. Therefore, the above sentence can be modified according to workplace etiquette as follows. "부장님, 이 과장님은 지금 자리에 안 계십니다. (Bujangnim, I gwajangnimeun jigeum jarie an gyesimnida.)"

• Korean speech levels

• Sohn, Ho-min (2006). Korean Language in Culture and Society. University of Hawai‘i Press: KLEAR Textbooks.