Hangeul

The hangeul (historically hangûl ) (or han' gŭl , romanisation McCune-Reischauer) Alphabet created to transcribe the Korean Langue is a . The goal of the creation of this alphabet was to reduce the rate of Analphabétisme in Korea. Its use as an official writing was promulgated only in 1894. In North Korea, the same writing is called chosŏn' gŭl (조선글).

It is about a alphabet monocaméral (which does not oppose the capitals and the tiny ones) of 51 letters, called jamos (자모).

According to Louis-Jean Calvet, “the hangeul is based on a very precise analysis of the Phonologie of the language, and the precision of this writing, its perfect adequacy with the Korean language, make that the hangeul is often presented like best the Alphabet of the world”.

History

The hangeul was invented by Sejong Large the, fourth king of the Dynastie Chosŏn. It was thought that a group of scientists, solicited by the king, created this new written form; however, the historians of today think that the hangeul was indeed established by the king himself, since one strongly reproached him for having invented it secretly, without consulting any scientist, perhaps by fear of the opposition of the cultivated classes. In any event, any door to believe that as regards Phonetic, no intellectual of the country equalized the king Sejong whose interest in this field will push it, after the disclosure of the hangeul, to send to thirteen times its scientists to consult a large Chinese phonetist exiled at the sino-Korean border.

This scholarship of the king comes from the ideal confucéen according to which a king must be a large scientist, philosophical and humanistic, although actually, one counts only two or three large scientists among the twenty-seven kings of the Dynastie Chosŏn, all having received a very thorough education since childhood.

The goal of this step was to help the majority of the illiterate population of this time to reach education. Indeed, the official writing of then, based on the Chinese characters, the Hanja S, was controlled only by the aristocratic elites. From where the creation of this system grammatologic which is still regarded today as one of most scientific of the world. It was finished in 1443, and was published on October 9th, 1446 in an headed document Hunmin Jeongeum (훈민정음/訓民正音).

The Korean alphabet was thus called in the beginning Hunmin Jeongeum , the correct Sons for the education of the people . The term hangeul , was used to him for the first time in 1912 by Ju If-gyeong (주시경/周時經) to indicate this alphabet, and means at the same time the great writing in antiquated Korean and writing of Korea in modern Korean.

But as of its first days, the hangeul ran up against the strong opposition of the intellectuals who regarded the Hanja as only legitimate writing to transcribe the Korean and baptized it " onmun" (vernacular writing). Then, later, it was with the turn of the successive governments to be hostile with the hangeul: in 1504, the king Yeonsan-gun prohibits the use and the training of the hangeul, and banishes the documents compiled with this alphabet. Then, in 1506, the king Jungjong removed the ministry for the vernacular writing . The hangeul then became a writing used by the women, who did not have access to the Chinese studies, like by the not educated people. Since the XVIIe century, the hangeul allowed the birth of the female romantic literature, but remained always scorned in the official sectors of the country.

With the rise of the Nationalism in Korea, following the multiple invasions of its history like to the Japanese threat, the hangeul became gradually a national symbol. Thus, in 1894, it was adopted in the administrative documents for the first time.

The October 9th, day of the commemoration of the publication of the hangeul, is in South Korea, one bank holiday called Journée of Hangeul (한글날). In North Korea, its equivalent, the Day of Chosŏn' gŭl (조선글날), the October 15th is celebrated.

Jamos

The hangeul is an alphabetical system including/understanding 51 letters, called jamos (자모, hanja: 字母, the characters mothers). These jamos is divided into several categories:

14 Consonne S basic (자음/子音 jaeum )
5 double consonants (쌍자음/雙子音 blood jaeum )
11 groups of consonants (복자음/複子音 bok jaeum )
10 Voyelle S basic (모음/母音 moeum )
11 made up vowels (쌍모음/雙母音 blood moeum )

Here a table classifying all these letters.

In the first column the jamos.
appear In the second column, the names of the jamos.
In the third column, the revised romanisation.
In the fourth column, the approximate pronunciation of the jamos.
In the last column, the pronunciation according to the International Phonetic Alphabet.

1. Certain consonants decide differently according to whether they are at the beginning or the end of the syllables which they form. For example, ㄱ decides “ gu ” in 기 ( G I) and “ K ” in 역 (yeo' k' )

2. The syllable “시” does not decide if but shi (a little like the sound chi in French). The transcription of this syllable by the revised romanisation of Korean gives if whereas the Mc-Cune-Reichauer method written “shi”.

3. The groups of consonants are always placed at the end of a syllable. If the syllable is followed by a consonant, only the first consonant is marked. If the syllable is followed of a vowel, the two consonants of the groups are pronounced, the second carrying out a connection with the vowel which follows.

Ex: “없다” will be read eobda (the ㅅ is not marked) whereas “없어” is read eopseo (the ㅅ is marked).

Alphabetical order

The Korean alphabet does not mix the consonants and the vowels. As no word starts graphically with a vowel, the order of the consonants is most important since it is that which is used to classify the words in a Dictionnaire. The order of the vowels comes then to classify the words beginning consonant consequently.

; 1446, Hunmin Jeongeum During the publication of the Hunmin Jeongeum in 1446, the Korean alphabet counted 28 letters on the whole. The scientists thus established the first alphabetical order of the hangeul which will change many times during its history.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S in 1446:

ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S in 1446:

ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ

The obsolete letters will be seen more in details in the part Jamo obsolete

; 1527, Choe Sejin In 1527, the Korean linguist Choe Sejin (최세진/崔世珍) reorganized the alphabet by separating the various types of jamos.

In the order of the consonants, the velar ones in first, are followed the alveolar ones, bilabials, fricative then glottales. The aspired consonants are put at the end. In the order of the vowels, those which have a diphthong formed by I (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ and ㅜ) are at the beginning and each one is followed by the corresponding diphthong.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S in 1527:

ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㆁ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅿ ㅇ ㅎ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S in 1527:

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㆍ

; 1751, Hong Gyehui In 1751, Hong Gyehui (홍계희/洪啓禧) proposes the replacement of the jamos ㅿ by ㅅ because of the close pronunciation, and ㅇ by ㆁ since the ㅇ is used only at the end of syllable and the ㆁ that in beginning.

The alphabet is thus reduced to 25 letters.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S in 1751:

ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㆁ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S in 1751:

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㆍ

; 1907, the Research institute of the National Writing A very small change took place in 1907 because of Research institute of the National Writing of Korea (국문연구소/國文硏究所). The ieung ㆁ was moved with the whole beginning of the alphabet.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S in 1907:

ㆁ ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S in 1907:

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㆍ

; 1933, Hangeul Matchumbeop In 1933, the Société of Korean Linguistics , founded by Ju If-gyeong (주시경/周時經), lays down the orthographical and grammatical rules of Korean in an headed document Hangeul Matchumbeop (한글맞춤법 Orthographe of Korean ). He is included there a new alphabetical order: the ㆁ became ㅇ (the feature highest disappeared) and returned on its site of origin, the vowel ㆍ was removed.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S in 1933:

ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S in 1933:

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

In North Korea

When both Korea S proclaimed the hangeul as being their official writing, the order was arranged to be able to contain new the jamos created (double consonants and made up vowels).

There exist two today alphabetical orders Korean: that of the North Korea and that of the South Korea.

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S:

ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ' ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ

The first ㅇ corresponds to the sound - ng , the second is the consonant empties .

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S:

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ

We notice that the classification of the letters is similar to the precedents. New the jamos was simply added at the end of the alphabet with the aim of respect the traditional orders.

In South Korea

Ordre alphabetical of the Consonant S:

ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ

Ordre alphabetical of the Vowel S:

ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ

This order differs much from that of the old classifications. The similar letters were grouped, with the result that new the jamo was found mixed with the basic letters, contrary with the classification of North Korea.

In both cases, the groups of consonants are ignored.

Origin of the jamos

In the Hunmin Jeongeum , the king Sejong Large the explained that the creation of the jamos was inspired by the shape of the mouth and the principles of the Yin and Yang.

Consonants

In the Korean alphabet, the five consonants ㄱ , ㄴ , ㅁ , ㅅ , ㅇ symbolize five various types of articulation of the consonants used in Korean which are respectively the velar ones, the alveolar ones, the bilabials, the fricative ones and the glottales.

To these five consonants are added features who can symbolize either an aspiration, or a support of the consonant.

We will see more in detail these five principal consonants as well as the other consonants resulting from these.

the velar consonants (아음/牙音 a-eum “sounds of the molars”)

ㄱ , this jamo represents the form of the language at the time when one produces the sound in question
ㅋ , the horizontal feature in the middle of the ㄱ represents the aspiration added to the sound *Les alveolar consonants (설음/舌音 seol-eum “sounds of the language”)
ㄴ , this jamo represents the form of the language at the time when one produces the sound in question
ㄷ , the horizontal feature above the ㄴ represents the light support of the sound ** ㅌ , the horizontal feature in the middle of the ㄷ represents the aspiration added to the sound ** ㄹ /, the コ above the ㄴ represents the light fold of the language to articulate this consonant.

the consonants bilabials (순음/唇音 sun-eum “sounds of the lips”)

ㅁ , this jamo represents the lips which must be touched to produce the sound in question
ㅂ , the two vertical features above the ㅁ represent the occlusivity bilabial
ㅍ , the horizontal feature above the ㅛ (which is the simplification of the ㅂ ) represents the aspiration added to the sound

the fricative consonants (치음/齒音 chi-eum “sounds of the teeth”)

ㅅ , this jamo represents the contact between the teeth of the jaw lower and those of the upper jaw, contact necessary to produce the sound in question
ㅈ , the horizontal feature above the ㅅ represents its delivery before the sound, which gives; indeed, the jamo ㅈ decided in the past before evolving to
ㅊ , the horizontal feature above the ㅈ represents the aspiration added to the sound; for the same reason that previously, ㅊ passed from the sound to

the consonants glottales (후음/喉音 hu-eum “sounds of the throat”)

ㅇ , this jamo represents the opening of the mouth to produce the sound in question
ㅎ , the horizontal feature above the obsolete jamo ㆆ (which itself has a horizontal feature above the ㅇ for the Glottal stop) represents the aspired consonant

Vowels

For the creation of the vowels, three different features are necessary:

the horizontal feature representing the Earth (Yin);

the point symbolizing the Sun (Yang);

the milks vertical corresponding to the Man.

The Earth and the Sun are two opposite but complementary forces, according to the principle of the Yin and Yang. The Man is the neutral element.

With time, the point became a short feature, either horizontal (in 아 ) or vertical (in 오 ).

We will distinguish two categories of simple vowels:

those which can produce a diphthong in ( ㅏ , ㅓ , ㅗ , ㅜ )

and those which cannot ( ㅡ , ㅣ ).

The jamos of the first unit are made up each one of a long horizontal or vertical feature to which one adds a point (today, a short feature). Their respective diphthongs ( ㅑ , ㅕ , ' ㅛ , ㅠ ) are created that by adding a point moreover.

The jamos of the other unit are either the horizontal feature only ( ㅡ ) or the vertical feature only ( ㅣ ).

By knowing that the directions of Yin are the left and bottom, those of Yang the line and the top, we can distinguish, among the four jamos ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ , that the Yin vowels are ㅓ , ㅜ and the Yang vowels are ㅏ , ㅗ .

To symbolize the Korean diphthongs present, of new letters were created. It is about the association of the jamos ㅜ or ㅗ with another vowel. The ㅜ joins the vowels Yin, ㅗ with the Yang vowels. Six diphthongs were thus created of it:

ㅘ , ㅙ , ㅚ , ㅝ , ㅞ , ㅟ .

Lastly, the jamos ㅐ , ㅔ and ㅢ were formerly used to represent the respective diphthongs, and. In Korean modern, the pronunciation of ㅐ became, and ㅔ .

Here a summary table of the various categories of vowel.

Jamos obsolete

Many a jamos was used to transcribe the medieval Chinese . With time, these letters were forgotten. However, certain Korean dialects still use obsolete jamos to transcribe the lost phonemes of the dialect of Seoul.

basic Consonants and double consonants

Consonants and made up vowels

Consonnes made up of two jamos: ㅦ ㅧ ㅨ ㅪ ㅬ ㅭ ㅮ ㅯ ㅰ ㅲ ㅳ ㅶ ㅷ ㅺ ㅻ ㅼ ㅽ ㅾ ㆂ ㆃ

Consonnes made up of three jamos:

ㅩ ㅫ ㅴ ㅵ

Voyelles made up:

ㆎ ㆇ ㆈ ㆉ ㆊ ㆋ ㆌ

Details on the name of the jamos

In 1527, Choe Sejin also gave a name to each jamo, after having classified them. The names of the consonants followed a process more complex than those of the vowels.

Name of the consonants

Each name was to be into two Syllabe S and to respect the structure Jamo + its + its + Jamo . For example, ㄴ has as a name ㄴ + ㅣ + 으 + ㄴ , which put together gives 니은 nieun .

Choe also allotted a name in Hanja equivalent. In our example, the hanja equivalent of 니은 is 尼 (nor) 隱 (eun). This last rule posed a problem for three characters: the ㄱ , the ㄷ , and the ㅅ . Indeed, no hanja decided euk , had , or have .

The character 役 (yeok) was selected to name ㄱ because its sino-Korean pronunciation ended in the sound K . For the two others jamos, Choe had to refer about it to the Korean pronunciation of the character S 末 (kkeut) and 衣 (bone) because no hanja ended in the sounds T and S .

The jamos ㅈ , ㅊ , ㅋ , ㅌ , ㅍ and ㅎ could not be at the end of the syllable. Choe thus allotted to them a name of only one syllable of the form Jamo + its I (example: ㅈ has as a name ㅈ + ㅣ , 지 , which, put together, gives ji ). Later, these names were changed in order to respect the first structure , the modern orthography authorizing these letters to be positioned at the end of the syllable.

Lastly, when the use of the hanjas was banished in North Korea, the government regularized the name of the jamos ㄱ , ㄷ , and ㅅ since the constraint of the hanjas did not take place any more to be.

Here thus modern official names of the consonants jamos :

Name of the vowels

The attribution of the name of the jamos vowels was much simpler: it is enough to prefix the vowel by the consonant empties ㅇ , which gives:

A syllabic structure

The graphic structure of the hangeul is original: indeed, inspired by that of the Sinogramme S (which are not of alphabetical nature), it lays out each Syllabe built by means of the jamos in a virtual square creating a regular alignment. In kind, the graphic unit is the syllable and not the phoneme (one cannot indeed write the jamos independently safe for didactic reasons), without for all this the writing is not a Syllabaire because each syllable can be logically built or read starting from the signs representing the phonemes. It is thus about an alphabet whose letters gather in syllables aligned like the sinogrammes.

Here various possibilities of combinaision of the jamos to compose a syllable:

consonant (either basic, or or double) + vowel (example: ㄱ + ᅡ = 가 );

consonant (either basic, or or double) + vowel + consonant (example: ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한 ).

The initial consonant ( 초성 / 初聲 choseong ) is placed always on the left in the square virtuel.

The central vowel ( 중성 / 中聲 jungseong ) can be placed in three various manners:

on the right of the first consonant for the vowels ㅏ , ㅑ , ㅓ , ㅕ , ㅣ , ㅐ , ㅒ , ㅔ and ㅖ , those with the longer vertical features (example: 가 );

in lower part of the first consonant for the vowels ㅗ , ㅛ , ㅜ , ㅠ , ㅡ , those with the longer horizontal features (example: 구 );

in lower part then on the right of the first consonant for the vowels ㅘ , ㅙ , ㅚ , ㅝ , ㅞ , ㅟ and ㅢ (example: 왜 ).

The final consonant ( 종성 / 終聲 jongseong ), when it is present, places all in bottom of the virtual square (example: 국 , 없 ).

With the writing, no word can begin with a vowel because of the syllabic structure, from where the need for creating a consonant empties ㅇ for the words starting orally with a syllable vowel (one will write 아 instead of ㅏ ). For example, the word “ouyou” which means “milk” writes 우유 and not ㅜㅠ .

There exists little of Korean exceptions. The simplicity of this writing (not inevitably visible with the first access) mainly explains the strong rate of elimination of illiteracy of Korea today.

Orthography

The hangeul is an alphabet monocaméral; i.e. a letter is represented only by one eye, contrary to the Latin alphabet or Cyrillic. For example, the sound D is quite simply represented by the ㄷ whereas the Latin alphabet represents it either by the tiny D , or by the capital D .

The Korean is an agglutinant language and flexional. These properties (radicals, endings, agglutinations) are reflected in the writing.

The Korean writing is one of only, in Asia, to practice spacing between the words.

Until the 20th century, the hangeul did not have any official orthographical rule. Generally, this alphabet was thus used to transcribe phonologiquement the Korean language in spite of the preference of the king Sejong for the morphophonologic transcription .

Under the Japanese domination, the Japanese model of writing was adopted by the government of occupation. This system mixed the hanjas used for the Vocabulaire (nouns and verbs), and the hangeul used for the grammatical points the such endings, the conjunctions, etc Comparé with the Japanese writing, the Sinogramme S ( Hanja or Kanji ) were more frequent in Korean than in Japanese during this period. The part hangeul of the writing was rather often phonological.

With time, the writing of Korean became increasingly morphophonologic. Today, the orthography follows the rules stated in the Hangeul Matchumbeop , published in 1933 and revised in 1988 by the South Korea. The enacted rules are of the order purely morphophonologic.

For more comprehension, let us see the various forms of the sentence “ I am Korean. ”

The sentence is thus written currently as follows: 저는한국사람입니다 .

Hanja

Others

Code ISO 15924: Hang

See too

References and bonds

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