European International Journal of Philological Sciences
49
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
49-51
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
24 January 2025
ACCEPTED
25 February 2025
PUBLISHED
27 March 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 03 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Differences and
Similarities Between
Uzbek And Korean: A
Closer Look
Salikbaeva Guldjon Onalovna
Uzbek State University of World Languages, Oriental Philology, Faculty of
Korean Language, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Abstract
: The languages of Central Asia and East Asia
have unique features that make them interesting to
linguists and language enthusiasts. Uzbek and Korean,
although belonging to different language families and
having different histories, contain many features that
can sometimes surprise even experienced researchers.
This article explores the similarities and differences
between Uzbek and Korean, looking at their origins,
grammatical structure, phonetics, vocabulary, and
culture.
Keywords:
Central Asia, East Asia, unique features of
languages, linguists, uzbek and korean languages,
similarities and differences between Uzbek and Korean
languages,
grammatical
structure,
phonetics,
vocabulary.
Introduction:
Uzbek is a Turkic language, which is part
of the broader Altaic language family. It developed from
the ancient Turkic language and is currently the official
language of Uzbekistan. Uzbek has many dialects,
which, despite certain differences, remain mutually
intelligible. It uses the Latin alphabet, was in Cyrillic
since the 1940s, and before that used the Arabic script.
Korean language belongs to the isolated Koreanic
language family, which has no closely related languages.
Some scholars have suggested that Korean may be
related to the Tungusic or Japonic language families, but
there is no evidence to support this. Korean has a long
and complex history, and its written language was
developed in the 15th century using a unique writing
system, Hangul, which was created to improve literacy
among the common people.
Both language systems have similar features in
grammar, despite their different origins.
Word order
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One of the most noticeable features of both Uzbek and
Korean is the SOV (subject-object-verb) structure. This
means that in a sentence, the subject comes first, then
the object, and then the verb. For example:
Uzbek
: "Men kitobni oqishim kerak." (I must read a
book).
Korean
: "
나는
책을
읽어야
한다
." (I must read a
book).
Agglutination
Both Uzbek and Korean use agglutination, a process in
which suffixes are added to the root of a word to
express grammatical meanings such as tense, person,
number, case, etc. Both languages have rich suffix
systems.
Uzbek:
Verbs are inflected by tense, number, and person using
affixes: "
Ko’r”
- (to see) + "-dim" (I) = "
ko’dim
" (I saw).
Korean:
Verbs are also inflected by suffixes: "
보다
" (to watch)
+ "
아
/
어
" = "
봐요
" (I watch).
No gender and number of nouns
Both languages do not have grammatical gender, as,
for example, in Russian or French. Nouns in Uzbek and
Korean do not inflect by gender, and gender does not
affect the forms of adjectives or pronouns. The number
system is also limited, and it is not as complex as in
some other languages.
Phonetics
Although the phonetic system of Korean and Uzbek
does not have obvious similarities, several interesting
aspects can be highlighted.
Vowels and consonants
Both language systems have a rich vowel system. In
Korean, there is a system of "tense" and "lax"
consonants, which gives the language a characteristic
sound. Uzbek also has many vowels, but does not use
consonant tension to the same extent.
Prosody and Intonation
Intonation plays an important role in both languages,
but it is not as pronounced as in some other languages,
such as Chinese. Korean, for example, has a clearer
boundary between politeness and formality, which
affects intonation.
Vocabulary
The vocabulary of both languages has a large number
of loanwords, but in different historical contexts.
Borrowings from other languages
Uzbek has many loanwords, especially from Arabic,
Persian and Russian. This is due to historical contacts
with the Arab world, as well as the long stay in the Soviet
Union.The Korean language, on the other hand, has
borrowed numerous words from Chinese, especially in
the fields of science, philosophy, and culture. Modern
Koreans have also borrowed many words from English,
especially in recent decades.
Unique Elements
Despite the borrowings, both languages have unique
elements in their vocabulary that are difficult to
translate into other languages. Uzbek, for example, uses
specific terms to describe traditional culture and
everyday life, such as "mahalla" (local community) or
"shashlik" (meat on a spit). In Korean, words such as
"han" (a feeling of pain or suffering on a collective level)
and "chonji" (spiritual well-being) have unique cultural
meanings that are difficult to translate.
Writing
The Uzbek language has a long history with several
writing systems. Today, the Latin alphabet is used, but
in the past, the Arabic and Cyrillic alphabets were used.
The Latin alphabet currently helps maintain standards in
writing, but Cyrillic remains popular in some diasporas.
The Korean language uses a unique writing system,
Hangul, which was developed in the 15th century by the
Korean king Sejong the Great. Hangul consists of letters,
each of which has its own sound. It is one of the simplest
and most logical alphabets, which makes Korean writing
accessible to learn.
Culture and Social Structure
Languages are closely linked to culture. Both Uzbek and
Korean cultures have a complex system of politeness
and respect that directly affects the choice of words and
forms of address. In Korean, for example, there are
several levels of formality that are determined based on
age, social status, and the relationship between the
interlocutors. Uzbek also preserves a form of respect in
speech, for example, through the use of the forms
"sizni" (respectful address) as opposed to "sen"
(informal address).
CONCLUSION
Although Uzbek and Korean have different roots,
histories, and cultural contexts, they show remarkable
similarities in grammar, sentence structure, and even
some aspects of phonetics. These similarities are
certainly due to more universal principles such as
agglutination and word order. However, differences in
vocabulary, writing, and cultural aspects make them
quite unique.
Studying these languages, despite their differences,
allows us to gain a deeper understanding of how
languages can develop independently of each other, but
at the same time retain some common features that
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make them similar at the level of structure and
communication.
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