Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Omkara]

I'm trying to discover a basic rhythm pattern in the korean language. In enlgish, we have the iamb. What would a similiar unit be in Korean? I know the hard/soft sound pattern doesn't apply, but what would? Long/short syllables? Are there stress patterns?

[ernie]

i'd compare it to a machine gun... a rapid fire burst of syllables, a pause (usually at the end of ____는 or _____에, etc), then another burst of syllables... no disrespect intended, that's what it sounds like to me...

[Omkara]

I think you are on the right track. There is a kind of caesura ( a pause or "scissor") in the basic sentence. Yet, I can here stressed syllables. . .

[Atavistic]

But it's a whiny machine gun.

[VanIslander]

[Omkara]

I get your point, all. But, remember, you're probably with a very limited selection of Korean speakers, probably kids.

I'm more interested in finding out about poetic devices, etc. I'm trying to follow some ideas I have about the evolution of musical rhythm, etc. In addition, there are interesting phonetic analyses to be done understanding the language as it is arranged in time.

I don't need anything too complex; just honest ideas that don't mock the language and the people.

The language is acutally a beautiful language--not as spoken by drunks, the uneducated, the rude, etc., but at it's core, as spoken by those who've an aesthetic understanding of life, literature and thought.

[Atavistic]

[Dome Vans]

[Atavistic]

[Justin Hale]

I actually resigned today (gave a month's notice) and it's largely due to sharing a small office with 3 adjumas and their vile noise.

Yes, there are the phone conversations....

예예, 예예, 예예, 예예, 예예, 예예, 예예, 예예

and there's also the elongated final syllables...

지, 데, 때, 면, 고, etc

Well, I must return to the UK as soon as possible out of personal necessity, but even if it were not personally necessary, I'd prolly still pack my bags, since during my breaks I have to have my MP3 constantly running to drown out the poisonously heinous noise of adjumas. Actually, that's the reason I stopped studying Korean. It's a hideous language. The alphabet is wonderful and generally the language is very interesting indeed, but it'd be perfect were it not for the fact that Koreans speak it.

[mrgiles]

well if u're talking iambs, i assume u're talking about prosody, because the iamb's actually not the "natural" rhythm of english, being a stress-based language. traditionally, korean poetry organises itself of 3 and 4 syllable blocks - it's definitely not a stress-structured language, and this 3-or-4-syllable structuring has a relation to speech in as much as after such blocks, there is generally a lengthening of the last syllable (similar to a caesura). this final bit is just conjecture on my part; i haven't seriously looked into it. i'd be interested if anyone else knows...

[JustJohn]

Anyone mind if I buck the trend and actually answer the OP instead of whining about Koreans whining?

OP,
English is a stress timed language. Korean is a syllable timed language. This is why you hear people describe it as machine gun like. In casual speech you will hear the last word extended a lot, which is what makes it sound "whiny." I don't really know how they time and stress their poetry specifically though.

[philipjames]

My co-teacher's voice drives me insane. Oddly enough, when she speaks English her voice is quite pleasant. But when she does the rapid-fire Korean noise talking though, her voice is simply unbearable. Like nails on a chalkboard.

I hate the sound of the Korean language generally, especially as it's spoken on tv. Hell for me would be being trapped in a room with Korean tv on and no means of escape and/or turning it off.

[tomato]

I can share one observation:
It is very rare for a Korean song to start on an up-beat.
In fact, their translation of "The Farmer in the Dell" cuts off the upbeat.

I don't understand why this is true, since the utterance "안녕 하세요" starts with an unaccented syllable.

It seems that in Germanic languages, when an an utterance starts on an unaccented syllable, the unaccented syllable is half spoken, half sung as a low so and the following accented syllable is spoken as do.

This is reflected in English songs:

The Farmer in the Dell
Flow Gently, Sweet Afton
Amazing Grace
Pretty Saro
One Morning in May

I've never studied German, but it seems that the same is true in German.
I notice the same pattern in German songs and in compositions by German composers:

Bach a minor violin concerto
Beethoven f minor piano sonata
theme from Brahms' First Symphony
overture to Tannhauser
O Christmas Tree

[Miles Rationis]

Fucking ugly ass language....suits the country well...