The
Korean language
Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...
uses special
measure or
counting words for specific objects and events.
These suffixes are called ''subullyusa'' () in Korean. They are similar to the ones employed in the
Chinese and the
Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
s.
In English it is "two sheets of paper", not "two papers". Analogously, in Korean ''jang'' () is used to count
sheets
A bed sheet is a rectangular piece of cloth used either singly or in a pair as bedding, which is larger in length and width than a mattress, and which is placed immediately above a mattress or bed, but below blankets and other bedding (such as ...
or anything that is a paper-like material, for example "ten bus tickets" is ''beoseu pyo yeol jang'' (버스 표 열 장 / ), literally, "bus ticket ten 'sheets'". In fact, the meanings of counter words are frequently extended in metaphorical or other image-based ways. For instance, in addition to counting simply sheets of paper, ''jang'' in Korean can be used to refer to any number of thin, paper-like objects. Leaves (''namunnip'' 나뭇잎) are counted using this count word. In this way, a particular count word may be used generally in a very open-ended manner and up to the construal or creativity of the speaker.
There are two systems of
numerals in Korean: native Korean and
Sino-Korean. Native Korean numerals are used with most counter words, and usually count the number of an object, while Sino-Korean numerals are generally used for indicating a specific object in series, such as a specific lesson in a book, as well as monetary units and scientific measurements. Sometimes both types of numerals may be used, usually native Korean numerals indicating a quantity and Sino-Korean numerals indicating an ordinal. For example, ''yeol gwa'' (열 과 / ) would mean 'ten lessons' while ''sip gwa'' (십과/) would mean 'lesson ten.' There are exceptions, such as native Korean numbers being used with , meaning "hour of the day". Additionally some counters (mostly those associated with traditional units) modify the pronunciation and spelling of the numerals that precede it, most notably 6월 is and 10월 is .
List of count words
Some count words take native Korean numerals:
Some count words take Sino-Korean numerals:
Some nouns can also function as counter words:
Some words are used for counting in multiples:
See also
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Measure word
In linguistics, measure words are words (or morphemes) that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of something represented by some noun.
Description
Measure words denote a unit or measurement and are used with mass nouns ( ...
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Classifier (linguistics)
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수분류사
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korean Count Word
Korean language
ko:수분류사