Yun-gyŏng Kim

Kim Yun-kyong (; ; June 9, 1894 – February 3, 1969) was a Korean linguist and educator, renowned for his works such as Joseon Script and History of Joseon Linguistics, Korean Language Grammar (나라말본, 1948), and Middle School Korean Language Grammar (중등말본, 1948). Kim was an activist for the Korean language movement and attempted to preserve the Korean writing system during the Japanese colonial period. In recognition of his efforts to safeguard the Korean language and promote national consciousness, he was posthumously awarded the National Foundation Medal in 1977 and the Patriotic Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1990.

Biography

Early life Kim Yun-kyong was born in Gojam-ri , , , Gyeonggi Province, Joseon on June 9, 1894, as the eldest son of Jeong-min Kim and Rak-hyul Park . He studied Chinese literature in his hometown from the age of five to fifteen and moved to Seoul in April 1908 to pursue modern education. He then enrolled at the Private Woosan School located in western Seoul. In December of the same year, he transferred to Virtuous Law School , from which he graduated on July 9, 1909, and immediately entered its advanced program in the following September. He completed this program in 1910, a year marked by the Japan–Korea Annexation . Subsequently, in January 1911, he enrolled at the Private Youth Academy in Sangdong , southern Seoul, where he received Hangul instruction from his lifelong mentor, Si-gyeong Ju. Influenced by Ju's teachings on the excellence of the Korean alphabet, Kim's prejudices and conventional views about Hangul were completely transformed. He lectured there for four years, during which he authored his early scholarly work, a paper titled The Basis of Joseon Language Research . ), focusing on its management and national education projects.

The content is divided into two main parts: the Introductory Section and the Main Discussion. The Introductory Section covers the classification of languages, characteristics of the Ural-Altaic language family, the scope of the Korean language, and the origins and types of scripts. The Main Discussion is split into two chapters: Scripts before the invention of Hunminjeongeum, and the Hunminjeongeum. The latter chapter elaborates on the script's name, reasons for its creation, thoughtful considerations during its development, its properties, its value, various theories about its origin, and a summary of changes since its distribution. Additionally, this chapter explores the main text of the book Hunminjeongeum.

It is structured into three main parts: Sori-gal (소리갈; phonetics and phonology), Ssi-gal (씨갈; morphology), and Wol-gal (월갈; syntax). Sori-gal describes consonants and vowels of the Korean language, details variations in length, strength, and pitch of sounds, explores sound assimilation, discusses sound reduction, According to Sori-gal, the Korean language has eight articulation places.

Wol-gal, where 'Wol' refers to sentences composed of multiple words, divides sentence components into Imja-gam (임자감; subject), Puri-gam (풀이감; predicate), and Kkumim-gam (꾸밈감; modifier). examines the matching of honorifics between subjects and predicates, describes various sentence types, and concludes with illustrations. In Kim's book Joseon Script and History of Joseon Linguistics (조선문자 급 어학사/朝鮮文字及語學史, 1946), he characterizes Ch'oe as "a mentally deficient person who opposed the creation of Hangul". Boh-yuong Shin, a professor of Political Science at Konkuk University, argues that this assessment has led to Ch'oe being unfairly maligned as a historical sinner. He maintains that such a portrayal distorts Ch'oe's true intentions and unjustly diminishes him to enhance King Sejong's achievements with Hangul. Shin emphasized that while Ch'oe Manli regarded the invention of Hangul as a significant accomplishment, he also expressed several concerns about its implications and worried about its adverse effects on King Sejong's health. Furthermore, he contends that while Ch'oe did commit errors, the criticism he receives is disproportionately harsh. This statement sparked controversy over whether 'bulgogi' is a derivative of 'yakiniku'. Drawing from Kim's interview, Kyo-ik Hwang – a former journalist now a blogger and YouTuber – mentioned on a TV program and his Facebook page in 2018 that 'bulgogi' is a Korean adaptation of the Japanese word 'yakiniku'. He argued, referencing Kim's statements, that during the Japanese colonial period, there was an initiative to translate Japanese terms into Korean, including 'bulgogi', which implies that the word was derived from 'yakiniku'.

However, Hwang's claim has been met with criticism from several linguists. Yang-jin Kim, a professor of Korean Language and Literature at Kyung Hee University, suggested that Kim's remarks should be interpreted as advocating the use of existing but seldom-used Korean words instead of their Japanese counterparts and therefore do not support Hwang's assertion. Furthermore, Ji-hyeong Kim, a professor of Korean Language and Culture at Kyung Hee Cyber University, stated that Kim Yun-kyong's comments advocate for the purification of the Korean language through the replacement of foreign terms with native ones but do not substantiate the claim that 'bulgogi' originated from 'yakiniku'.