The Korean Alphabet: its Origin and System

1. The Korean Alphabet: its Origin and System Sung-ho Choi

2. I. Who speaks in Korean? • Korean people, living in Korean Peninsular  Politically, South Korea and North Korea. • Population  about 70 millions (48 M. of S. Koreans, 22 M. of North Koreans) • Korean immigrants living in America, Japan, China and Russia  about 5 M.

3. Korean alphabet vs. Chinese characters • Koreans use mainly “Hangeul” (=name of the Korean alphabet) for the written communication. • Chinese letters (e.g., 美國 ‘America’, 手 ‘hand’, 大學校 ‘university’, etc.; “ideographs”) are the supplementary means of writing “sino-korean” words for the older generation of Koreans. • Chinese letters are more restricted in terms of function and people.

4. “Hangeul Only” Movement • Hangeul has been used only with limited purposes until recently (middle of the 20th century)  Conservative government officials and intelligent people used only Chinese characters. • The “Hangeul only” movement, which is closely related with democratization of the Korean society, has accelerated the use of Hangeul, which helps to promote the literacy of the people. • The reason for the success of the movement is (1) Hangeul is very easy to learn, and (2) there is no problem whatsoever in writing and understanding sino-korean words in Hangeul. (미국 vs. 美國)

5. II. Creation of the Korean alphabet: “Hangeul” • “Hangeul” means ‘the Great Writing’. • The inventor of Hangeul is King Sejong, the 4th King of Josun dynasty. • King Sejong promulgated Hangeul to the public in the 15th century (1446), in the name of Hunmin Jeongeum ‘The Correct Sounds to Instruct the People’

6. Purpose Statement by King Sejong • The purpose of devising the alphabet is summarized in the preface of the text Hunmin Jeongeum. “The speech sounds of Korea are distinct from those of China and thus are not communicable with Chinese characters. Hence, many people having something to put into words are unable to express their feelings. To overcome such distressing circumstances, I have newly devised twenty-eight letters that everyone can learn with ease and use with convenience in daily life.”

7. III. Design of the letters: Consonants • Oriental philosophy  The universe is governed by the principle of Yin‘dark’ and Yang‘bright’ and the rotation of the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, mental, and water).  Human speech sounds are also based on the same cosmological principles, i.e., the patterns of yin-yang (cf. Vowel-Consonant ‘mother sound’-‘son-sound’) and the Five Elements (molar, tongue, lips, incisor, throat).  So are the speech sounds of Korea.

8. Five basic letters They symbolize five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Hanguel Description • ㄱ [k] molar sound; wood (the molar is uneven and extended); depicts the shape of the root of the tongue blocking the throat • ㄴ [n] tongue sound; fire (the tongue is pointed and joined); depicts the shape of the tongue touching the alveo-dental area • ㅁ [m] lips sound; earth (the lips are squarish and yet joined); depicts the shape of the mouth (lips) • ㅅ [s] incisor sound; metal (the incisor is hard and cutting) ; depicts the shape of an incisor • ㅇ [ng] throat sound; water (the throat is deep & moist); depicts the shape of throat

9. Derived letters; “featural” system (adding a stroke or a letter) plain(lax) aspirated tensed Velars stop ㄱ[k] ㅋ[kh] ㄲ[kk] ㄱ + ㅡ ㄱ+ㄱ Alveo-dentals stop ㄷ[t] ㅌ[th] ㄸ[tt] ㄷ+ㅡ ㄷ+ㄷ fricative ㅅ[s] ㅆ[ss] ㅅ+ㅅ affricates ㅈ[c] ㅊ[ch] ㅉ[cc] ㅈ+ㅡ ㅈ+ㅈ Labials stop ㅂ[p] ㅍ[ph] ㅃ[pp] ㅂ+ㅡ ㅂ+ㅂ

10. Vowel letters • Three basic vowel letters •  The dot (• [Λ], which is “deep”) symbolizes ‘heaven’ (short stroke in the current system). •  The horizontal line (ㅡ [ï], neither “deep” nor “shallow”) symbolizes ‘earth’. •  Finally, the vertical line (ㅣ[i], which is “shallow”) symbolizes ‘man’. • Non-basic derived vowel letters are combinations of these three elements. Examples. ‘l•’ [a], ‘•l’ [å].

11. Derived Vowel letters and sounds • letters Sound Description • ㅗ [o] same as • except that the mouth is contracted. (round) • ㅏ [a] same as • except that the mouth is spread. (unround) • ㅜ [u] same as ㅡ except that the mouth is contracted. (round) • ㅓ [å] same as ㅡ except that the mouth is spread. (unround) • On-glide diphthongs • ㅛ [jo] same as ㅗ, except that it arises from ㅣ. • ㅑ [ja] same as ㅏ, except that it arises from ㅣ. • ㅠ [ju] same as ㅜ, except that it arises from ㅣ. • ㅕ [jå] same as ㅓ, except that it arises from ㅣ. • Off-glide diphthongs (nowadays, monophthongs) • ㅚ [ö] (ㅗ+ㅣ) • ㅐ [ä] (ㅏ+ㅣ) • ㅟ [ü] (ㅜ+ㅣ) • ㅔ [e] (ㅓ+ㅣ) • [w]-diphthongs • ㅘ [wa] (ㅗ+ㅏ) • ㅝ [wΛ] (ㅜ+ㅓ)

12. IV. Writing words: Principle of “Syllable-block” • CV(C) principle • 가 ‘go!’ CV. • 아이 ‘kid’ (C)V.(C)V • 학생 ‘student’ CVC.CVC • More examples: UNC Chapel Hill linguistics desk family • 유엔씨 채플힐 언어학 책상 가족 • your name English: George Washington • Korean: 조지 와싱턴

13. V. Characteristics of Korean alphabet • “Featural” system • For consonants, addition of a stroke means [aspiration], and repetition of a letter means [tenseness]. • For vowels, addition of a stroke means [diphthongization].

14. “Diagrammatic” system • Diagrammatic relation between sounds and letters. • More complex sounds are depicted by more complex letter shapes.