PROFILE

Sang-Oak LEE (李 相 億) 

Sang Oak Lee is Professor of Korean Linguistics at Seoul National University and also taught at the University of Sydney (1994-97). In 1973 as a Fulbright-Hays grantee he entered the University of Illinois at Unbana, and received his Ph.D. in 1978.

He moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to serve as a Research Fellow in the Harvard-Yenching Institute for two years. He was also a grantee of Humboldt Fellowship during the years of 1985 and 1986 at Munich University, and in 2003 at Technical University of Berlin. He is interested in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and quantitative linguistics.

He has engaged in Korean language instruction to foreign students since 1969, and lastly in UCLA from 2008 to 2009. He has published a dissertation entitled ‘Middle Korean Tonology’, 1979, and a textbook with the title “Standard Korean for Japanese” (in Japanese) in Tokyo, 1974, and a series of textbooks entitled “Korean Through English”, 1990 (in English), 1993 (in Chinese), 1994 (in Japanese), 1995 (in Russian), 1996 (in Spanish), 1997(in French) and many others. 

PERSONL DETAILS

Full name : Sang-Oak LEE (李 相 億)

  • Date of birth : August 12, 1944
  • Place of birth : Seoul, Korea
  • Citizenship : Korea
  • Mailing Address : Department of Korean, College of HumanitiesSeoul National University, Seoul 08826, KOREA
  • Tel : (office) 82-2-880-6031 (home) 82-70-8152-7164
  • E-mail : sangoak@snu.ac.kr, sangoak33@naver.com
  • homepage : www.sangoak.com or www.sangoak.snu.ac.kr
  • blog : blog.naver.com/sangoak33
  • Fax : (office) 82-2-878-1246

EDUCATION / DEGREES

  • 1964-68 B.A. in the Korean language and literature, Seoul National University
  • 1968-69 Transfer to the Department of French Language and Literature1969-73 M.A.(cum laude), [ABD in Ph.D.] in Korean linguistics, Seoul National University
  • 1973-78 M.A., Ph.D. in general linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (supported by the Fulbright Scholarship and the University Fellowship)

EMPLOYMENT RECORD

Present positions
(since Sept. 2009) Professor Emeritus in Korean linguistics, Department of Korean Language and Literature, College of Humanities, Seoul National University

  • 2008-09 Director of Seoul National University America Center Project
  • 2006-08 Director of Korean Language Research Institute, Seoul National University
  • 2002-04 President of International Circle of Korean Linguistics (ICKL)
  • 2001-03 Director of Seoul National University Korean Studies Program (Assorted Major)
  • 1999-2000 Special Committee Member for Romanization System Reform, Ministry of Culture and Tourism
  • 1999-to date President of Seoul Dialect Research Institute
  • 1999-2009 Adjunct Professor in Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University
  • 1998-2000 Adjunct Professor in the Korean Program, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University
  • 1996 Chair to the Organizing Committee, The Third Pacific and Asia Conference on Korean Studies (PACKS)
  • 1992-2009 Professor in Korean linguistics, Department of Korean Language and Literature, College of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 1990-94 Director of SNU-UCLA and SNU-Griffith (Australia) Telelink Program
  • 1989-93 Associate Director in Research Division, Language Research Institute, Seoul National University
  • 1987-89 Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Seoul National University1987-92 Associate Professor, Department of Korean, College of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 1986-89 Director of SNU-UCLA Language and Culture Training Project in Korea
  • 1983-85 Associate Director in Testing Division, Language Research Institute, Seoul National University (Coordinator of Korean Intensive Course for Malaysian Engineers for their ‘Look East Policy’)
  • 1982-87 Assistant Professor, Department of Korean, College of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 1979-82 Associate Professor, Department of Korean, College of Humanities, Korea University
  • 1973-74/77-78 Research Assistant, Department of Linguistics, Graduate School, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • 1971-73 Lecturer, Department of Korean, Duksung Womens University
  • 1969-73 Teaching/Research Assistant, Korean Language Courses/Research Division, Language Research Institute, Seoul National University

VISITING POSITIONS

  • Sept 2008-Aug 2009 Lecturing Professor, UCLA & Director, SNU America Center
  • Sept 2003-Jan 2004 Visiting Professor, Korea Research Center, Kyushu Univ.
  • Mar-Aug 2003 Humboldt Research Fellow, Technische Universität Berlin
  • 1994-97 Visiting Professor in the Korean Language and Culture, School of Asian Studies, University of Sydney
  • Jul-Aug 1991 Research Fellow, Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Linguistic Institute, University of California at Santa Cruz
  • Jan-Feb 1990 Research Professor for the Project, Department of Linguistics, Konstanz University (Award from the Volks Wagen Project)
  • 1985-86 Humboldt Research Fellow, Institute of the German Philology, Munich University, and East-Asian Studies, Bochum University(The Humboldt Fellowship)
  • Jul-Aug 1983 Research Fellow, LSA Linguistic Institute, University of California at Los Angeles
  • 1980-81 Visiting Professor in the Korean language, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University
  • Jul-Aug 1977 Visiting Student, LSA Linguistic Institute, University of Hawaii (LSA Scholarship)
  • 1975-77 Research Fellow, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University (Grant in Support of Doctoral Dissertation)
  • Jul-Aug 1974 Visiting Student, LSA Linguistic Institute, University of Massachusetts (LSA Scholarship)