Providing a wealth of information, A Reference Grammar of Korean is invaluable to all those with a serious interest in the Korean language by one of the world's leading scholars of East Asian Languages, this is the first comprehensive book on Korean grammar in English. Professor Martin gives a detailed analysis of modern Korean as it is spoken in both North and South Korea, providing explanations, sample sentences, and translation tips for virtually all the grammatical structures and usage patterns that puzzle the student. He places modern usage in a historical context by tracking its development back to the Middle Korean of the fifteenth century, making this book essential to those who wish to read older Korean texts. The history and use of Korean writing systems, both Hangul and Chinese characters, are delineated with admirable clarity. Tables of Chinese characters in common use, including those with multiple readings, and a valuable appendix of the radicals and their names will prove indispensable to students seeking help in identifying and understanding the characters.

Chapters include:

• Explanations of various romanization systems.
• Historical overview of phonological developments.
• Chinese vocabulary and characters.
• Number constructions and counting systems.
• Detailed listings of parts of speech and their functions.
• Description of verb stems and endings.
• Explanation of sentence construction and translation difficulties.

• Lists of Korean surnames, place names, radical names, and stem shapes.
• A thorough index that makes the book easy to use.