Staff Profile
Dr Hana Jee
Lecturer
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I am a lecturer in Korean language and linguistics, with a particular interest in the interface between language, cognition, and culture. At York St John University, I teach Korean language modules and contribute to English linguistics teaching.
My research explores how culture interacts with human cognition and language in social communication, with a current focus on semantic ambiguity, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and cognitive overload in the Korean language.
Originally trained in English Education (BA, Seoul National University), I taught English in South Korea for over a decade before moving to the UK. I completed my MSc in the Psychology of Language (with Merit and a Highly Commended Dissertation Award) and later a PhD in Psychology, both at the University of Edinburgh.
I actively involve in public engagement in the field of Korean language education. I published five Korean textbooks and established a YouTube channel.
- This Korean Grammar Book is Not for Beginners Part One (2022) Publisher: Amazon.
- This Korean Grammar Book is Not for Beginners Part Two (2022) Publisher: Amazon.
- This Korean Grammar Book is Not for Beginners Part Three (2022) Publisher: Amazon.
- This Korean Grammar Book is Not for Beginners Part Four (2022) Publisher: Amazon.
- Exploring the Korean Subconsciousness through History and Myths (2022) Publisher: Amazon.
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – h.jee@yorksj.ac.uk
- Research - View my work in RaY
- Postgraduate Research Supervisor
Further information
Teaching
I mainly teach Korean language modules, along with selected modules in English linguistics.
- LAK4005M Korean Language Foundation 1
- LAK4008M Korean Language Foundation 2
- LAK5001M Korean Language and Society 1
- LAK5002M Korean Language and Society 2
- LAK6001M Korean Language Project 1
- LAK6002M Korean Language Project 2
- LAL4018M Language and Society
- LAL4021M Descriptive Grammar of English
- LAL6015M East Asian Linguistics and culture
- LAL6010M Dissertation
Research
My research interest lies in the universal systematicity between linguistic forms and their meanings in many languages. I am also interested in designing creative methods to quantify any linguistic qualities, for example, the distance between word meanings, or the distance between letter shapes.
Publications and conferences
Journal papers
- Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (in prep). Sounds you can see: Visually perceived effort in speaking informs the guessing of letter identity in learning to read. Cognition
- Jee, H. (under review). Universal Preference in Letter-Sound Mapping: Evidence from Cross-Cultural Behavioral Study. PLOS One.
- Jee, H. (under review). Orthography-Phonology Mapping in Chinese: Evidence for Characto-Syllabic Systematicity. Journal of Chinese Writing System.
- Jee, H. (2025). The Impact of Hangeul Acquisition on Grapho phonemic Systematicity, Hangeul, 86(1). 183-204.
- Jee, H. (2023). The Methods and Implications of Hangeul’s Grapho-phonemic System, Hangeul, 84(2). 577-599.
- Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (2023). Quantified Grapho-Phonemic Systematicity in Korean Hangeul. Asian Culture and History, 15(1), 1-9.
- Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (2022). Systematicity in language and the fast and slow creation of writing systems: Understanding two types of non-arbitrary relations between orthographic characters and their canonical pronunciation. Cognition, 226, 105197.
- Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (2022). Exploring meaning-sound systematicity in Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 31(1), 45-71.
Book chapters
- Jee, H. (2024). The Systematicity of Hangul: Quantification and Comparison with Other Writing Systems. In H. K. Pae, H. Winskel, S. Y. Kim (Eds.), Handbook on the Korean Language and Literacy: Insights into Hangul and Text Processing, Springer Nature: Singapore
Proceeding papers
- Jee, Tamariz, & Shillcock. (accepted) Yes, /b/ is similar to /p/ as much as ‘B’ is similar to ‘P’. Proceedings of Association for Written Language and Literacy.
- Jee, H. (2024) Your Justice is Different from My Justice: Quantifying Mental State Variation of Identical Words through a Case Study of Korean Newspaper Corpora. The International Academic Forum Art, Media & Culture.
- Jee, H, Tamariz, M. & Shillcock, R. (2024) Does Korean grapho-phonemic systematicity enhance spontaneous learning? Haralambous, Y. (Ed.) Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 771-780
- Jee, Tamariz, & Shillcock. (2022) Letters and their sounds are not perfectly arbitrary: Exploring grapho-phonemic systematicity in multiple orthography systems. Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Language Evolution (JCoLE) Evolution of Language, 354-356
- Du, F., Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (2022). Grapho-Syllabic Systematicity in Chinese: Chinese Pictographs Have a Non-Arbitrary relation with their Pronunciations. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 44, No. 44).
- Jee, H, Tamariz, M. & Shillcock, R. Quantifying sound-graphic systematicity; Application to multiple phonographic orthographies. Haralambous, Y. (2021, February). Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, June 17-19, 2020. In G21C 2020: Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century (Vol. 4). Fluxus Editions.
- Jee, Tamariz, & Shillcock (2020) The meaning-sound systematicity also found in the Korean language. Cognitive Science
- Jee, H., Tamariz, M., & Shillcock, R. (2020). Quantifying sound-graphic systematicity and application on multiple phonographs. In CogSci.
Public engagement
“Unlocking the Secret Code of Writing Systems” (Aug 20, 2024) SciPod | Arts and Humanities
https://www.scipod.global/dr-hana-jee-unlocking-the-secret-code-of-writing-systems/
“Do people who speak different languages share preferences for letter shapes?” (Mar 17, 2025) SciTube | Arts and Humanities
https://scitube.io/dr-hana-jee-do-people-who-speak-different-languages-share-preferences-for-letter-shapes/
Research Grants awarded
- “Grapho-phonemic systematicity in ideographic characters of China and Sino-graphic sphere” Students as Researchers Scheme 2023 York St John University (sole PI, October 2023)
- “The secret of letter shapes: exploring grapho-phonemic systematicity in human writing systems” British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant (sole PI, June 2023)
- “Impact of a new orthography acquisition on symbol perception” Hangul Association Research Grant for Early Career Researchers (sole PI, June 2023)
- “Your justice is different from my justice: Exploring semantic differences between two Korean media over identical political concepts” ESRC Sociolinguistic Futures between the UK and South Korea: Early career researchers (sole PI, September 2022)
- “Your feminism is different from my feminism” ESRC Sociolinguistic Futures between the UK and South Korea: Early career researchers (CI, September 2022)
- “Your feminism is different from my feminism: Exploring semantic differences in the use of the term ‘feminism’ in South Korean media” Students as Researchers Scheme 2022 York St John University (CI, October 2022)
Published Audio File
Unlocking the Secret Code of Writing Systems (Aug 20, 2024) SciPod | Arts and Humanities
www.scipod.global/dr-hana-jee-unlocking-the-secret-code-of-writing-systems
Published Video File
Do people who speak different languages share preferences for letter shapes? (Mar 17, 2025) SciTube | Arts and Humanities
scitube.io/dr-hana-jee-do-people-who-speak-different-languages-share-preferences-for-letter-shapes
Professional activities
Communication Lead of Korean UK Academic Society (KUAS) (Since 2025)
Honorary Secretary of British Association for Korean Language Education (BAKLE) (Since 2023)
