말하면 안 되는 “그녀”?
“She” that cannot be spoken?
(Pardon me for working a clickbait.)
The search for “그녀” came from the random thought that I read it more than hearing it said out loud.
Koreans generally use '그' for males and '그녀' for females. However, this usage reflects a tendency rather than an intrinsic meaning. In Korean, '그' (he) and '그녀' (she) are third-person pronouns. While '그녀' explicitly indicates gender, '그' does not inherently carry gender connotations but is mainly used for males.
Journalist, politician, and novelist Oh Hyojin noted in this article that "그녀" is seen as a product of translation from foreign languages and suggests that writers, especially novelists, overuse "그녀" despite it not being a common term in daily life. Instead, he advocates avoiding the use of "그녀" in literature since it is rarely used in spoken Korean.
The word '그녀' began to be used by some writers in the early to mid-20th century and gradually became popular. Even texts from the 1970s show the use of '그' as a third-person singular pronoun without distinguishing gender. This is also confirmed by the fact that '그들,' the plural form of '그,' is a registered word in the dictionary, while '그녀들' is not. However, this does not mean women were disregarded. '그' did not signify men but simply referred to an 'individual,' making '그들' sufficient as a plural form.
Similarly, in English, 'they' is used as a gender-neutral third-person plural pronoun, so '그들' was deemed sufficient in translations.
"In our language, there were no suitable words equivalent to 'He' and 'She.' We replaced 'He' and 'She' with the term '그' , eliminating gender distinctions. Today, using '그' has become common and widely accepted, so it seems unremarkable. However, when it was first used, it required considerable hesitation, bold decision-making, and deep contemplation."
Kim Dong-in, "30 Years of Literary Footprints," 'New World: Volume 3, Issue 9 (October 1948)'
In Japanese,
He: 彼 (かれ, kare)
She: 彼女 (かのじょ, kanojo)
In Japanese, the use of gender-specific pronouns has been influenced by Western languages, where such pronouns are more common. This shift reflects Japan's adaptation to and integration of linguistic elements from other cultures.
Similarly, in Chinese, the differentiation between "he" (他) and "she" (她) emerged in the 1870s due to increased interactions with Western cultures. Despite the different characters, both pronouns are pronounced the same way (tā). This indicates the lingering effects of Western thought colonization which also impacted Korean lexicon.
Curiously, in Southeast Asia, the pronouns used differ. In Malaysia and Indonesia, "dia" is used for both genders, while in Thai, "khao" serves as a gender-neutral pronoun, though Thai has other means of indicating gender. I will dive further down the rabbit hole when I have the brain capacity to do so.
Personally, I rarely use “그” solely, and often pairs it with 친구, 사람, 남자, 여자, 의자, 곳. I consider “그” as “that”, very neutral. So, I am quite surprised when there’s so much anthropological meaning to “그” and “그녀”.
Sources:
https://www.harvard-yenching.org/research/cultural-history-of-the-chinese-character-ta/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BD%BC%E5%A5%B3
https://www.artinsight.co.kr/news/view.php?no=51224
https://www.cbinews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=121103
