Leiden University Student Repository

Kesseler, Jasmijn (2023)

The Suitability of the Yale Romanization of Korean for Linguistics in the Netherlands: A comparison between the Yale, McCune-Reischauer, and Revised Romanizations from a pronunciation accuracy perspective

Bachelor thesis | Koreastudies (BA)

This paper explores the McCune-Reischauer, Revised, and Yale Romanizations to establish whether the Yale Romanization of Korean, the current standard in linguistics, is truly suitable for this field in the Netherlands. The author looks at this issue from a pronunciation accuracy perspective, by having linguistics students and professionals at Leiden University read out phrases in the three transcription systems and quantifying their struggles in pronouncing the different romanizations. Additionally, a survey has been conducted, which asked participants from 3 Dutch universities to choose a preferred transcription system after listening to a Korean word. Both methods found that McCune-Reischauer was pronounced the most accurately and was most preferred by linguistic students. Yale Romanization was the least accurate and least preferred. The author thus argues that while Yale Romanization certainly has its distinct benefits, it is critically lacking in pronounceability and legibility,...Show moreThis paper explores the McCune-Reischauer, Revised, and Yale Romanizations to establish whether the Yale Romanization of Korean, the current standard in linguistics, is truly suitable for this field in the Netherlands. The author looks at this issue from a pronunciation accuracy perspective, by having linguistics students and professionals at Leiden University read out phrases in the three transcription systems and quantifying their struggles in pronouncing the different romanizations. Additionally, a survey has been conducted, which asked participants from 3 Dutch universities to choose a preferred transcription system after listening to a Korean word. Both methods found that McCune-Reischauer was pronounced the most accurately and was most preferred by linguistic students. Yale Romanization was the least accurate and least preferred. The author thus argues that while Yale Romanization certainly has its distinct benefits, it is critically lacking in pronounceability and legibility, and is therefore not suitable for all parts of linguistics in its current state.Show less

Yale Romanization of Korean

linguistics

transcription

pronunciation

Korean language

Author

Kesseler, Jasmijn

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Choi, W.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en