A Reference Grammar of Korean

A Reference Grammar of Korean is composed of two main sections. The first section covers numerous topics in Korean linguistics. Many topics have discussions of how they have evolved across time, from Middle Korean to the present. The second section, the "Grammatical Lexicon", is a 540-page alphabetized listing of grammatical elements.^[1]

Korean is transcribed in the book using the Yale romanization of Korean, which Martin himself created in the 1950s.^[2]

Martin graduated with a PhD in linguistics from Yale University in 1950. He had specialized in East Asian linguistics, and by the time of his graduation, he was already considered to be a leading authority on the study of Korean and Japanese linguistics. In the 1950s, he developed the Yale romanization system.^[2]

A Reference Grammar of Korean is the culmination of decades of Martin's research into Korean linguistics. He began gathering extensive files on Korean grammar and language history in the 1950s. He began full time research into Middle Korean in the 1980s. Around that time, he acquired computer software for managing and retrieving linguistic data that aided his research.^[3]

At the time of its publication, the book was the only major English-language work on Korean historical linguistics, even though historical linguistics was not its primary focus. It continued to maintain this status until the 2011 publication of A History of the Korean Language.^[4][5]

The book is considered to be a monumental Western work in Korean linguistics, although it is little known in Korea. While linguist Ross King praises the work, he evaluates it as very difficult to parse. He argues that Martin's book requires "at least a semester-long graduate seminar to train students simply [on] how to use the book".^[6]