Politeness phenomena in English and Korean:

	Giver	Recipient	Hierarchical Relation
(1)	Addressee's son	Addressee	Giver < Recipient
(2)	Addressee's father	Addressee	Giver > Recipient
(3)	Speaker's father	Addressee (=speaker's grandma)	Speaker <Giver<Recipient (=addressee)
(4)	Addressee's father	Addressee's grandma	Giver <Recipient

 

English	Korean		Addressee
(1) What present did your son give you on your birthday?	ni saengil-e atûl-i nô-hanthe musûn sônmul cu-ôss-	ni?	nô 'you'
	hyông saengil-e atûl-i hyông-hanthe musûn sônmul cu-ôss-	ô(-yo)	hyông 'older brother
	sônsaeng-nim saengsin-e atû-nim-i sônsaeng-nim-kke musûn sônmul tûli-ôss-	ô-yo?	sônsaeng-nim 'teacher'
		supnikka?
	halmôni saengsin-e atû-nim-i halmôni-kke musûn sônmul tûli-ôss-	ô-yo?	halmôni 'grandma'
		supnikka?
(2) What present did your father give you on your birthday?	ni saengil-e apôci-kkesô nô-hanthe musûn sônmul cu-si-ôss-	ni?	nô 'you'
	hyông saengil-e apôci-kkesô hyông-hanthe musûn sônmul cu-si-ôss-	ô(-yo)	hyông 'older brother
	sônsaeng-nim saengsin-e apô-nim-kkesô sônsaeng-nim-hanthe musûn sônmul cu-si-ôss-	ô-yo?	sônsaeng-nim 'teacher'
		supnikka?
(3) What present did the father give you on your birthday?	halmôni saengsin-e apôci-kkessô halmôni-kke musûn sônmul tûli-ôss-	ô-yo?	halmôni 'grandma'
		supnikka?
(4) What present did the father give Grandma on her birthday?	halmôni saengsin-e apôci-kkessô halmôni-kke musûn sônmul tûli-si-ôss-	ô-yo?	Not specified
		supnikka?

 

Key linguistic features of honorifics in Korean:

• Use of honorific words:
  • birthday: saengil vs. saengsin
  • give: cu- vs. tûli-
    
• Use of honorific particles for the giver and the receiver
  • Giver: -i vs. -kkessô when the giver is higher than the speaker
  • Receiver: -hanthe vs. -kke when the recipient is higher than the giver
    
• Use of the honorific marker -si- on the verb when the subject (giver) is higher than the speaker
  
• Use of different speech styles depending on the relation of the addressee to the speaker:
  • -ni when the addressee is an intimate friend to or someone much younger than than the speaker
  • -ô when the address is a friend or sibling to the speaker
  • -ôyo or -sûpnikka when the addressee is higher than the speaker