The Korean Language (Cambridge Language Surveys)

Rating:
Summary: Solid but Nothing Extraordinary
Review: This solidly-written survey of the Korean language is part of the Cambridge Language Survey series. Whilst fairly comprehensive and detailed, the book maintains reader interest for most parts, being aimed at the professional or amateur linguist. For the general reader, however, the meticulous description of Korean grammar that is the final chapter becomes somewhat tedious, as does the preceding chapter on word formation.

Sohn's survey of Korean is refreshingly broads, covering general and historical background of the language, genetic affiliation, dialects, lexicon, orthography, phonology, morphology and syntax. In general, each section is lucidly written, and, where it does not get bogged down by detail, enjoyable to read.

The book is on the whole fairly accurate, although a few minor textual and factual errors have crept in, e.g., the statement that Chinese characters comprise 1 to 32 strokes, where in fact characters exist with many more than 32 strokes. Compared to the content of the text, however, these errors are insignificant.

Physically, the book is well printed, the typeface being sufficient large and clear. The Chinese characters and Hangul are also clearly printed.

All in all, Sohn's 'The Korean Language' is a solid survey of the language, on the whole fairly objective, although a certain bias favouring the Korean language is evident, and perhaps not entirely unexpected.