Examine individual changes

'{{Other uses}} {{short description|Native alphabet of the Korean language}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2017}} {{POV|date=June 2018}} {{Infobox writing system |name = Korean alphabet {{nobold|or}}<br>Chosŏn'gŭl<br>Hangul<br>Hangeul |altname = {{native name|ko|Chosŏn'gŭl|paren=omit}} or {{lang|ko-Latn|Hangeul}} |type = [[Featural]] [[alphabet]] |languages = [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Jeju language|Jeju]], [[Cia-Cia language|Cia-Cia]] Official script of:{{plainlist| *{{Flag|China}} ([[Jilin|Jilin Province]]: [[Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture]] and [[Changbai Korean Autonomous County]]) *{{Flag|Indonesia}} ([[Southeast Sulawesi]]: [[Bau-Bau]]) *{{DPRK}} *{{ROK}} }} |time = 1443-present |direction = ltr |creator = [[Sejong the Great|Sejong of Joseon]] |unicode = {{Plainlist}} * [[Hangul Syllables|U+AC00–U+D7AF]] * [[Hangul Jamo (Unicode block)|U+1100–U+11FF]] * [[Hangul Compatibility Jamo|U+3130–U+318F]] * [[Hangul Jamo Extended-A|U+A960–U+A97F]] * [[Hangul Jamo Extended-B|U+D7B0–U+D7FF]] {{Endplainlist}} |iso15924 = Hang |sample = Hangul chosongul fontembed.svg |imagesize = |caption = The top reads {{lang|ko-Latn|Chosŏn'gŭl}}; the bottom, {{lang|ko-Latn|Hangeul}} |footnotes = Hangul is usually written horizontally, from left to right. When written vertically, the writing system is top to bottom and often right to left, but sometimes top to bottom and left to right. }} {{Korean writing}} The '''Korean alphabet''', known as '''Hangul''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɑː|n|g|uː|l}} {{Respell|HAHN|gool}};<ref name="MW">{{cite web |title=Hangul |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hangul |website=[[Dictionary by Merriam-Webster]] |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |accessdate=15 August 2017 }}</ref> from [[Korean language|Korean]] {{Lang-ko|한글|links=no|translit=|label=none|italic=|italics=}}, {{IPA-ko|ha(ː)n.ɡɯl}}) has been used to write the [[Korean language]] since its creation in the 15th century by King [[Sejong the Great]].<ref>{{cite web |title=알고 싶은 한글 |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/hangeul/setting/002.html |website=국립국어원 |publisher=National Institute of Korean Language |accessdate=4 December 2017 }}</ref><ref name="Kim-Renaud 15p">{{harvnb|Kim-Renaud|1997|p=15}}</ref> It may also be written '''{{lang|ko-Latn|Hangeul}}''' following the [[Revised Romanization of Korean|standard Romanization]]. It is the official [[writing system]] of [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]. It is a co-official writing system in the [[Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture]] and [[Changbai Korean Autonomous County]] in [[Jilin|Jilin Province]], [[China]]. It is sometimes used to write the [[Cia-Cia language|Cia-Cia]] language spoken near the town of [[Bau-Bau]], [[Indonesia]]. The alphabet consists of 14 [[consonant]]s and 10 [[vowel]]s. Its letters are grouped into [[syllable|syllabic]] blocks, vertically and horizontally. For example, the Korean word for "[[honeybee]]" (''kkulbeol'') is written {{lang|ko|꿀벌}}, not {{lang|ko|ㄲㅜㄹㅂㅓㄹ}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/principle/001.html |title=Individual Letters of Hangeul and its Principles |date=2008 |website=National Institute of Korean Language |access-date=2017-12-02 }}</ref> As it combines the features of alphabetic and syllabic writing systems, it has been described as an "alphabetic syllabary" by some [[Linguistics|linguists]].<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Insup |title=The Korean writing system: An alphabet? A syllabary? a logography? |journal=Processing of Visible Language |date=1980 |pages=67–82 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-1068-6_5 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-1068-6_5 |accessdate=17 October 2017 |publisher=Springer |location=[[Boston, Mass.]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pae |first1=Hye K. |title=Is Korean a syllabic alphabet or an alphabetic syllabary |journal=Writing Systems Research |date=1 January 2011 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=103–115 |doi=10.1093/wsr/wsr002 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1093/wsr/wsr002 |accessdate=17 October 2017 |issn=1758-6801 }}</ref> As in traditional Chinese writing, Korean texts were traditionally written top to bottom, right to left, and are occasionally still written this way for stylistic purposes. Today, it is typically written from left to right with [[word divider|spaces]] between words and [[punctuation|western-style punctuation]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/10/economist-explains-7 |title=How was Hangul invented? |date=2013-10-08 |work=[[The Economist]] |access-date=2017-12-02 }}</ref> Some [[linguistics|linguists]] consider it among the most phonologically faithful writing systems in use today. One interesting feature of Hangul is that the shapes of its consonants seemingly mimic the shapes of the speaker's mouth when pronouncing each consonant.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/a-linguist-explains-why-korean-is-the-best-written-language-2016-6 |title=A linguist explains why Korean is the best written language |last=Cock |first=Joe |date=2016-06-28 |work=[[Business Insider]] |access-date=2017-12-02 }}</ref> ==Names== === Official names === {{Infobox Korean name | title = Korean name (North Korea) | context = north | hangul = {{wikt-lang|ko|조선글}} | rr = Joseon(-)geul | mr = Chosŏn'gŭl | koreanipa = {{IPA-ko|tso.sɔn.ɡɯl}} }} {{Infobox Korean name | title = Korean name (South Korea) | hangul = {{wikt-lang|ko|한글}} | hanja =<!--none--> | rr = Han(-)geul | mr = Han'gŭl<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2015-08-12 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712071618/http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf |archivedate=2015-07-12 |df= }}, p. 52</ref> | koreanipa = {{IPA-ko|ha(ː)n.ɡɯl}} }} [[File:Hangeul.svg|thumb|300px|The word "Hangul", written in the Korean alphabet]] The Korean alphabet was originally called [[Hunminjeongeum|Hunminjeong'eum]] ({{lang|ko|훈민정음}}), after the document that introduced the script to the Korean people in 1446.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cha.go.kr/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?ctgryLrcls=CTGRY168&nttId=57977&bbsId=BBSMSTR_1205&mn=EN_03_03|title=Hunminjeongeum Manuscript|last=|first=|date=2006|website=Korean Cultural Heritage Administration|language=en|access-date=2017-12-02|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203224537/http://www.cha.go.kr/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?ctgryLrcls=CTGRY168&nttId=57977&bbsId=BBSMSTR_1205&mn=EN_03_03|archivedate=2017-12-03|df=}}</ref> [[North Korea]]ns call the Korean alphabet Chosŏn'gŭl ({{lang|ko-kp|조선글}}) after [[Chosŏn]], the North Korean [[Names of Korea|name for Korea]].<ref name="Kim-Renaud 2p">{{harvnb|Kim-Renaud|1997|p=2}}</ref> The [[McCune–Reischauer]] system is used there. Today, [[South Korea]]ns call the Korean alphabet ''hangeul'' ({{lang|ko-kr|한글}}), a name coined by Korean linguist [[Ju Si-gyeong]] in 1912. The name combines the ancient Korean word ''han'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko-Hang|한}}), meaning "great", and ''geul'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko-Hang|글}}), meaning "script". The word ''han'' is used to refer to Korea in general, so the name also means "Korean script".<ref name="Lee, Iksop 13p">{{harvnb|Lee|Ramsey|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NN-yIdLOkCoC&pg=PA13 13]}}</ref> It has been [[romanized]] in multiple ways: * ''Hangeul'' or ''han-geul'' in the [[Revised Romanization of Korean]], which the [[South Korea]]n government uses in English publications and encourages for all purposes. * ''Han'gŭl'' in the [[McCune–Reischauer]] system, is often capitalized and rendered without the [[diacritic]]s when used as an English word, Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries. * ''Hānkul'' in the [[Yale romanization of Korean|Yale romanization]], a system recommended for technical linguistic studies. === Other names === Until the early 20th century, the Korean elite preferred to write using [[Chinese characters]] called [[Hanja]]. They referred to Hanja as ''jinseo'' (진서) or "true letters". Some accounts say the elite referred to the Korean alphabet derisively as ''<nowiki/>'amkeul'' ({{Lang-ko|암클|label=none}}) meaning "women's script", and '''''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>'''ahaetgeul'' ({{Lang-ko|아햇글|label=none}}) meaning "children's script", though there is no written evidence of this.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/another/001.html|title=Different Names for Hangeul|last=|first=|date=2008|website=National Institute of Korean Language|access-date=2017-12-03}}</ref> '''''<nowiki/><nowiki/>''''' Supporters of the Korean alphabet referred to it as ''jeong'eum'' ({{Lang-ko|정음|label=none}}) meaning "correct pronunciation", ''gunkmun'' ({{Lang-ko|국문|label=none}}) meaning "national script", and ''[['eonmun]]'' ({{Lang-ko|언문|label=none}}) meaning "[[vernacular]] script".<ref name=":3" /> ==History== {{Main|Origin of Hangul}} === Creation === Before the creation of the new Korean alphabet, Koreans primarily wrote using [[Classical Chinese]] alongside native phonetic writing systems that predate the modern Korean alphabet by hundreds of years, including [[Idu script]], [[Hyangchal]], [[Gugyeol]] and Gakpil.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C&pg=PA57#v=onepage|title=Asia's Orthographic Dilemma|last1=Hannas|first1=Wm C.|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|isbn=9780824818920|page=57|language=en|accessdate=20 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CpZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66#v=onepage|title=Multilingual Access and Services for Digital Collections|last1=Chen|first1=Jiangping|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440839559|page=66|language=en|accessdate=20 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="phonetic">{{cite journal|date=1 January 2005|title=Invest Korea Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00a2AAAAIAAJ|language=en|publisher=Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency|volume=23|accessdate=20 September 2016|quote=They later devised three different systems for writing Korean with Chinese characters: Hyangchal, Gukyeol and Idu. These systems were similar to those developed later in Japan and were probably used as models by the Japanese.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|date=1 July 2000|title=Korea Now|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAlWAAAAYAAJ|language=en|publisher=Korea Herald|volume=29|accessdate=20 September 2016}}</ref> However, due to fundamental differences between the Korean and Chinese languages, and the large number of characters, many lower class Koreans were illiterate.<ref name="NAKL Back2">{{cite web|url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/setting/002.html|title=The Background of the invention of Hangeul|last=|first=|date=2008|website=National Institute of Korean Language|publisher=The National Academy of the Korean Language|accessdate=2017-12-03}}</ref> To promote literacy among the common people, the fourth king of the [[Joseon]] dynasty, [[Sejong the Great]], personally created and promulgated a new alphabet.<ref name="Kim-Renaud 15p" /><ref name="NAKL Back2" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54#v=onepage|title=Concise History of the Language Sciences: From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists |last1=Koerner|first1=E. F. K.|last2=Asher|first2=R. E.|publisher=[[Elsevier]]|isbn=9781483297545|page=54|language=en|accessdate=13 October 2016}}</ref> The Korean alphabet was designed so that people with little education could learn to read and write. A popular saying about the alphabet is, "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; even a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days."<ref name="Haerye">''[[Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye]]'', postface of [[Jeong Inji]], p. 27a, translation from [[Gari K. Ledyard]], ''The Korean Language Reform of 1446'', p. 258</ref> [[File:Hunmin jeong-eum.jpg|thumb|A page from the ''Hunminjeong'eum Eonhae''. The Hangul-only column, third from the left ({{Script/Korean|나랏말ᄊᆞ미}}), has pitch-accent diacritics to the left of the syllable blocks.]] The project was completed in late December 1443 or January 1444, and described in 1446 in a document titled ''[[Hunminjeongeum|Hunminjeong'eum]]'' (''The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People''), after which the alphabet itself was originally named.<ref name=":3" /> The publication date of the ''Hunminjeongeum'', October 9, became [[Hangul Day]] in South Korea. Its North Korean equivalent, Chosŏn'gŭl Day, is on January 15. Another document published in 1446 and titled ''[[Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye|Hunminjeong'eum Haerye]]'' ("''Hunminjeong'eum'' Explanation and Examples") was discovered in 1940. This document explains that the design of the consonant letters is based on [[articulatory phonetics]] and the design of the vowel letters are based on the principles of [[yin and yang|''yin'' and ''yang'']] and [[vowel harmony]]. === Opposition === The Korean alphabet faced opposition in the 1440s by the literary elite, including politician [[Choe Manri]] and other [[Korean Confucian]] scholars. They believed [[Hanja]] was the only legitimate writing system. They also saw the circulation of the Korean alphabet as a threat to their status.<ref name="NAKL Back2" /> However, the Korean alphabet entered [[popular culture]] as King Sejong had intended, used especially by women and writers of popular fiction.<ref name="Pratt">Pratt, Rutt, Hoare, 1999. ''Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary.'' Routledge.</ref> [[Yeonsangun of Joseon|King Yeonsangun]] banned the study and publication of the Korean alphabet in 1504, after a document criticizing the king entered the public.<ref name="NAKL process">{{cite web|publisher=The National Academy of the Korean Language |title=4. The providing process of Hangeul |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/supply/001.html |date=January 2004|accessdate=2008-05-19 }}</ref> Similarly, [[Jungjong of Joseon|King Jungjong]] abolished the Ministry of Eonmun, a governmental institution related to Hangul research, in 1506.<ref name="EncyKorea">{{cite web|url=http://100.empas.com/dicsearch/pentry.html?s=K&i=254353&v=43 |title=Jeongeumcheong, synonymous with Eonmuncheong (<span lang="ko">정음청 正音廳, 동의어: 언문청</span>)|publisher=[[Nate (web portal)|Nate]] / [[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]]|language=Korean |accessdate=2008-05-19 }}</ref> === Revival === The late 16th century, however, saw a revival of the Korean alphabet as ''[[Gasa (poetry)|gasa]]'' and ''[[sijo]]'' poetry flourished. In the 17th century, the Korean alphabet novels became a major [[genre]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://enc.daum.net/dic100/viewContents.do?&m=all&articleID=b24h2804b |title=Korea Britannica article |language=ko|publisher=Enc.daum.net |accessdate=2012-04-13}}</ref> However, the use of the Korean alphabet had gone without [[Orthography|orthographical standardization]] for so long that spelling had become quite irregular.<ref name="Pratt" /> In 1796, the [[Dutch people|Dutch]] scholar [[Isaac Titsingh]] became the first person to bring a book written in Korean to the [[Western world]]. His collection of books included the Japanese book, ''[[Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu]]'' (''An Illustrated Description of Three Countries'') by [[Hayashi Shihei]].<ref>WorldCat, [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sangoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page ''Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu'']; alternate [[romaji]] [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sankoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page ''Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu'']</ref> This book, which was published in 1785, described the [[Joseon Kingdom]]<ref>Cullen, Louis M. (2003). {{Google books|ycY_85OInSoC|''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds,'' p. 137.|page=137}}</ref> and the Korean alphabet.<ref>Vos, Ken. [http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/11Koreavroeg/e/accidentalacquisitions.pdf "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622021232/http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/11Koreavroeg/e/accidentalacquisitions.pdf |date=2012-06-22 }} p. 6 (pdf p. 7); Klaproth, Julius. (1832). {{Google books|lsoNAAAAIAAJ|''San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes,'' pp. 19 n1.|page=19}}</ref> In 1832, the [[Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland#Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland]] supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.<ref>Klaproth, {{Google books|lsoNAAAAIAAJ| pp. 1-168.|page=1}}</ref> Thanks to growing [[Korean nationalism]], the [[Gabo Reform]]ists' push, and Western missionaries' promotion of the Korean alphabet in schools and literature,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Silva | first1 = David J. | year = 2008 | title = Missionary Contributions toward the Revaluation of Han'geul in Late 19th Century Korea | journal = International Journal of the Sociology of Language | volume = 192 | pages = 57–74 | doi=10.1515/ijsl.2008.035}}</ref> the Hangul Korean alphabet was adopted in official documents for the first time in 1894.<ref name="NAKL process" /> Elementary school texts began using the Korean alphabet in 1895, and ''[[Tongnip Sinmun]]'', established in 1896, was the first newspaper printed in both Korean and English.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://korea.assembly.go.kr/history_html/history_07/mod_09.jsp |title=Korean History |publisher=Korea.assembly.go.kr |accessdate=2012-04-13}}</ref> === Reforms and prohibition under Japanese rule === After the [[Japanese forced occupation|Japanese conquest]], which occurred in 1910, [[Japanese language|Japanese]] was made the official language of Korea. However, the Korean alphabet was still taught in Korean-established schools built after the annexation and Korean was written in a mixed Hanja-Hangul script, where most lexical roots were written in Hanja and grammatical forms in the Korean alphabet. Japan banned earlier Korean literature from public schooling, which became [[Compulsory education|mandatory]] for children. The [[Hangul orthography|orthography of the Korean alphabet]] was partially standardized in 1912, when the vowel ''arae'a'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}})–which has now disappeared from Korean–was restricted to [[Sino-Korean vocabulary|Sino-Korean]] roots: the [[Emphatic consonant|emphatic consonants]] were standardized to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅺ, ㅼ, ㅽ, ㅆ, ㅾ}} and final consonants restricted to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ}}. [[Long vowels]] were marked by a diacritic dot to the left of the syllable, but this was dropped in 1921.<ref name="Pratt" /> A second colonial reform occurred in 1930. The ''arae-a'' was abolished: the emphatic consonants were changed to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ}} and more final consonants {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ, ㅈ, ㅌ, ㅊ, ㅍ, ㄲ, ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅄ}} were allowed, making the orthography more [[morphophonemic]]. The double-consonant {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} was written alone (without a vowel) when it occurred between nouns, and the nominative particle {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|-가}} was introduced after vowels, replacing {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|-이}}.<ref name="Pratt" /> [[Ju Si-gyeong]], the linguist who had coined the term Hangul to replace ''Eonmun'' or "Vulgar Script" in 1912, established the Korean Language Research Society (later renamed the [[Hangul Society]]), which further reformed orthography with ''Standardized System of Hangul'' in 1933. The principal change was to make the Korean alphabet as morphophonemically practical given the existing letters.<ref name="Pratt" /> A system for [[Transcription into Korean|transliterating foreign orthographies]] was published in 1940. However, Japan banned the Korean language from schools in 1938 as part of a policy of [[cultural assimilation]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://enc.daum.net/dic100/viewContents.do?&m=all&articleID=b24h2804b |publisher=[[Daum (web portal)|Daum]] / [[Britannica]] |title=Hangul <span lang="ko">한글</span> |work=The modern and contemporary history of hangul (<span lang="ko">한글의 근·현대사</span>)|quote=<span lang="ko">1937년 7월 중일전쟁을 도발한 일본은 한민족 말살정책을 노골적으로 드러내, 1938년 4월에는 조선어과 폐지와 조선어 금지 및 일본어 상용을 강요했다.</span>|language=Korean|accessdate=2008-05-19 }}</ref> and all Korean-language publications were outlawed in 1941.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/krtoc.html|title=Under the Media|last=|first=|date=2011-03-22|website=|publisher=Lcweb2.loc.gov|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|accessdate=2012-04-13}}</ref> === Further reforms === The definitive modern Korean alphabet orthography was published in 1946, just after [[Korean independence]] from Japanese rule. In 1948, North Korea attempted to make the script perfectly morphophonemic through the addition of new letters, and in 1953, [[Syngman Rhee]] in South Korea attempted to simplify the orthography by returning to the colonial orthography of 1921, but both reforms were abandoned after only a few years.<ref name="Pratt" /> Both [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]] have used the Korean alphabet or [[Korean mixed script|mixed script]] as their official writing system, with ever-decreasing use of Hanja. Beginning in the 1970s, Hanja began to experience a gradual decline in commercial or unofficial writing in the South due to government intervention, with some South Korean newspapers now only using Hanja as abbreviations or disambiguation of homonyms. There has been widespread debate as to the future of Hanja in South Korea. North Korea instated the Korean alphabet as its exclusive writing system in 1949, and banned the use of Hanja completely. === Contemporary use === [[File:State Elementary School Karya Baru.jpg|thumb|right|An elementary school sign in [[Bau-Bau|Baubau]] written in Indonesian and Korean]] While both North Korea and South Korea claim 99 percent literacy, a 2003 study found that 25 percent of those in the older generation in the South were not completely literate in the Korean alphabet.<ref>''[[The Hankyoreh]]''. [http://legacy.www.hani.co.kr/section-005000000/2003/10/005000000200310081936394.html {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|어른 25% 한글 못써...정부대책 '까막눈'}}], October 8, 2003</ref> The [[Hunminjeongeum Society|Hunminjeong'eum Society]] in Seoul attempts to spread the use of the Korean alphabet to unwritten languages of Asia.<ref>{{cite news |title=Linguistics Scholar Seeks to Globalize Korean Alphabet |newspaper=Korea Times |date=2008-10-15 |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/07/178_32754.html}}</ref> In 2009, the Korean alphabet was unofficially adopted by the town of [[Bau-Bau]], in [[Southeast Sulawesi]], [[Indonesia]], to write the [[Cia-Cia language]].<ref name=Cia2>{{cite news |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/10/113_74114.html |title=Hangeul didn’t become Cia Cia’s official writing |newspaper=Korea Times |date=2010-10-06}}</ref><ref name=Cia>[http://www.france24.com/en/20090806-indonesian-tribe-use-korean-alphabet-scholar Indonesian tribe to use Korean alphabet] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812024714/http://www.france24.com/en/20090806-indonesian-tribe-use-korean-alphabet-scholar |date=August 12, 2009 }}</ref><ref name=Cia3>{{cite news|last=Si-soo|first=Park|title=Indonesian Tribe Picks Hangeul as Writing System|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/08/117_49729.html|newspaper=Korea Times|date=2009-08-06}}</ref> A number of Indonesian Cia-Cia speakers who visited Seoul generated large media attention in South Korea, and they were greeted on their arrival by [[Oh Se-hoon]], the [[mayor of Seoul]].<ref>{{cite news |title= Indonesian Tribe Learns to Write with Korean Alphabet|author= Kurt Achin|newspaper= Voice of America|date= 29 January 2010|url= http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesian-Tribe-Learns-to-Write-with-Korean-Alphabet-83029477.html}}</ref> It was confirmed in October 2012 that the attempts to disseminate the use of the Korean alphabet in Indonesia failed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gov’t to correct textbook on Cia Cia |newspaper=Korea Times |date=2012-10-18 |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/10/116_122584.html}}</ref> Some people continue to use the Korean alphabet at home or co-officially. ==Letters== {{See also|Hangul consonant and vowel tables}} Letters in the Korean alphabet are called ''jamo'' (자모). There are 19 [[consonant]]s and 21 [[vowel]]s used in the modern alphabet. They are firstly named in [[Hunmongjahoe]], a [[hanja]] textbook written by [[Choe Sejin]]. === Consonants === [[File:Hangul letters.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Korean alphabet letters and pronunciation guide]] The chart below shows all 19 consonants in South Korean alphabetic order with [[Revised Romanization of Korean|Revised Romanization]] equivalents for each letter and pronunciation in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] (see [[Korean phonology]] for more). {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="2" |Hangul |[[ㄱ]] |ㄲ |[[ㄴ]] |[[ㄷ]] |ㄸ |[[ㄹ]] |[[ㅁ]] |[[ㅂ]] |ㅃ |[[ㅅ]] |ㅆ |[[ㅇ]] |[[ㅈ]] |ㅉ |[[ㅊ]] |[[ㅋ]] |[[ㅌ]] |[[ㅍ]] |[[ㅎ]] |- ! rowspan="2" |Initial !Romanization |''g'' |''kk'' |''n'' |''d'' |''tt'' |''r'' |''m'' |''b'' |''pp'' |''s'' |''ss'' |' |''j'' |''jj'' |''ch'' |''ḳ'' |''ṭ'' |''p̣'' |''h'' |- !IPA |{{IPA|/k/}} |{{IPA|/k͈/}} |{{IPA|/n/}} |{{IPA|/t/}} |{{IPA|/t͈/}} |{{IPA|/ɾ/}} |{{IPA|/m/}} |{{IPA|/p/}} |{{IPA|/p͈/}} |{{IPA|/s/}} |{{IPA|/s͈/}} |silent |{{IPA|/tɕ/}} |{{IPA|/t͈ɕ/}} |{{IPA|/tɕʰ/}} |{{IPA|/kʰ/}} |{{IPA|/tʰ/}} |{{IPA|/pʰ/}} |{{IPA|/h/}} |- ! rowspan="2" |Final !Romanization |''k'' |''k'' |''n'' |''t'' |– |''l'' |''m'' |''p'' |– |''t'' |''t'' |''ng'' |''t'' |– |''t'' |''k'' |''t'' |''p'' |''t'' |- !IPA | colspan="2" |''{{IPA|[k̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|/n/}}'' |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |''–'' |''{{IPA|[l]}}'' |''{{IPA|/m/}}'' |''{{IPA|[p̚]}}'' |– | colspan="2" |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|/ŋ/}}'' |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |''–'' |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|[k̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|[p̚]}}'' |''{{IPA|[t̚]}}'' |} ㅇ is [[Silent letter|silent]] syllable-initially and is used as a placeholder when the syllable starts with a vowel. ㄸ, ㅃ, and ㅉ are never used syllable-finally. {| class="wikitable" ! ! colspan="21" |Assimilation: combination between ''<u>preceding word final letter* (above row)</u>'' pronounced as + ''<u>following word initial letter** (below rows)</u>'' pronounced as: (e.g. 강루 - kang+ru = kang+<u>''nu''</u>, 있어 - iss+eo = is''-s<u>eo</u>'', -합니다 - -hap+ni+da = -''<u>ham</u>''-ni-da) |- | | colspan="2" |'''Preceding word final letter*''' |'''[[ㄱ]]''' '''(k)''' |'''ㄲ''' '''(kk)''' |'''[[ㄴ]]''' '''(n)''' |'''[[ㄷ]]''' '''(d)''' |'''ㄸ''' '''(tt)''' |'''[[ㄹ]]''' '''(l)''' |'''[[ㅁ]]''' '''(m)''' |'''[[ㅂ]]''' '''(p)''' |'''ㅃ''' '''(pp)''' |'''[[ㅅ]]''' '''(s)''' |'''ㅆ''' '''(ss/t)''' |'''[[ㅇ]]''' '''(ng)''' |'''[[ㅈ]]''' '''(j)''' |'''ㅉ''' '''(jj)''' |'''[[ㅊ]]''' '''(ch)''' |'''[[ㅋ]]''' '''(ḳ)''' |'''[[ㅌ]]''' '''(ṭ)''' |'''[[ㅍ]]''' '''(p̣)''' |'''[[ㅎ]]''' '''(h)''' |- ! ! rowspan="10" |Following word Initial letter** ![[ㅇ]](ng) |''g'' |''kk+h'' |''n'' |''t'' |''-'' |''r'' |''m'' |''p'' |''-'' |''s'' |''ss'' |''ng+h'' |''t+ch'' |''-'' |''t+ch'' |''k+h'' |''t+ch'' |''p+h'' |''h'' |- ! ![[ㅎ]](h) |''k'' |''kk+h'' |''n+h'' |''t'' |''-'' |''r/'' ''l+h'' |''m+h'' |''p'' |''-'' |''t'' |''-'' |''ng+h'' |''t+ch'' |''-'' |''t+ch'' |''k'' |''t'' |''p'' |''-'' |- ! ![[ㄱ]](k) |''k+k'' | |''n+g'' |''t+g'' |''-'' |''l+g'' |''m+g'' |''b+g'' |''-'' |''t+g'' |''-'' |''ng+g'' |''t+g'' |''-'' |''t+g'' | |''t+g'' |''p+g'' |''h+k'' |- ! ![[ㄴ]](n) |''ng'' | |''n+n'' | |''-'' |''l+n'' |''m+n'' |''m+n'' |''-'' |''t+n'' |''n+t'' |''ng+n'' |''t+n'' |''-'' |''t+n'' | |''t+n'' |''p+n'' |''h+n'' |- ! ![[ㄷ]](d) |''k+d'' | |''n+d'' |''t+t'' |''-'' |''l+d'' |''m+d'' |''p+d'' |''-'' |''t+t'' |''t+t'' |''ng+d'' |''t+t'' |''-'' |''t+t'' |''k+d'' |''t+t'' |''p+d'' |''h+t'' |- ! ![[ㄹ]](r) |''g+n'' | |''l+l'' | |''-'' |''l+l'' |''m+n'' |''m+n'' |''-'' | |''-'' |''n'' | |''-'' | | | | |''r'' |- ! ![[ㅁ]](m) |''g+m'' | |''n+m'' |''t+m'' |''-'' |''l+m'' |''m+m'' |''m+m'' |''-'' |''t+m'' |''-'' |''ng+m'' |''t+m'' |''-'' |''t+m'' |''k+d'' |''t+m'' |''p+m'' |''h+m'' |- ! ![[ㅂ]](b) |''g+b'' | | | |''-'' | | |''p+p'' |''-'' |''t+b'' |''-'' | | |''-'' | | | | | |- ! ![[ㅅ]] (s) | | | | | | | | | | |''ss+s'' | | |''t+ch'' | | | | | |- ! ![[ㅈ]](j) | | | | | | | | | | |''t+ch'' | | | | | | | | |} Consonants in the Korean alphabet can be combined into 11 [[Consonant cluster|consonant clusters]], which always appear in the final position in a syllable. They are: ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄶ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅀ, and ㅄ. {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="13" |Consonant cluster combinations (only used in solely or preceding word final letter) (e.g. [solely] 닭 ''da<u>g</u>''; [preceding word final letter] 없다 - ''eo<u>p</u>-ta'', 앉아 ''an-ja'') |- | colspan="2" |'''Preceding word final letter*''' |<big>'''[[ㄳ]]'''</big> '''<big>(gs)</big>''' |<big>'''ㄵ'''</big> '''<big>(nj)</big>''' |'''<big>ㄶ</big>''' '''<big>(nh)</big>''' |<big>'''ㄺ'''</big> '''<big>(lg)</big>''' |'''<big>ㄻ</big>''' '''<big>(lm)</big>''' |<big>'''ㄼ'''</big> '''<big>(lb)</big>''' |<big>'''ㄽ'''</big> '''<big>(ls)</big>''' |'''<big>ㄾ</big>''' '''<big>(lṭ)</big>''' |<big>'''ㄿ'''</big> '''<big>(lp̣)</big>''' |<big>'''ㅀ'''</big> <big>'''(lh)'''</big> |<big>'''ㅄ'''</big> <big>'''(ps)'''</big> |- | colspan="2" |'''(solely pronounced)''' |''g'' |''nj'' |''nh'' |''g'' |''m'' |''b'' |''s'' |''ṭ'' |''p̣'' |''h'' |''p'' |- ! rowspan="2" |'''Following word Initial letter**''' ![[ㅇ]](ng) |''g+s'' |''n+j'' |''l+h'' |''l+g'' |''l+m'' |''l+b'' |''l+s'' |''l+ṭ'' |''l+p̣'' |''l+h'' |''p+s'' |- ![[ㄷ]](d) |''g+t'' |''nj+d/'' ''nt+ch'' |''n+t'' |''g+d'' |''m+d'' |''b+d'' |''l+t'' |''l+ṭ'' |''p̣+d'' |''l+t'' |''p+t'' |} === Vowels === The chart below shows the 21 vowels used in the modern Korean alphabet in South Korean alphabetic order with [[Revised Romanization of Korean|Revised Romanization]] equivalents for each letter and pronunciation in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] (see [[Korean phonology]] for more). {| class="wikitable" !Hangul |ㅏ |ㅐ |ㅑ |ㅒ |ㅓ |ㅔ |ㅕ |ㅖ |ㅗ |ㅘ |ㅙ |ㅚ |ㅛ |ㅜ |ㅝ |ㅞ |ㅟ |ㅠ |ㅡ |ㅢ |ㅣ |- !Revised Romanization |''a'' |''ae'' |''ya'' |''yae'' |''eo'' |''e'' |''yeo'' |''ye'' |''o'' |''wa'' |''wae'' |''oe'' |''yo'' |''u'' |''wo'' |''we'' |''wi'' |''yu'' |''eu'' |''ui'' |''i'' |- !IPA |{{IPA|/a/}} |{{IPA|/ɛ/}} |{{IPA|/ja/}} |{{IPA|/jɛ/}} |{{IPA|/ʌ/}} |{{IPA|/e/}} |{{IPA|/jʌ/}} |{{IPA|/je/}} |{{IPA|/o/}} |{{IPA|/wa/}} |{{IPA|/wɛ/}} |{{IPA|/ø/ ~ [we]}} |{{IPA|/jo/}} |{{IPA|/u/}} |{{IPA|/wʌ/}} |{{IPA|/we/}} |{{IPA|/y/ ~ [ɥi]}} |{{IPA|/ju/}} |{{IPA|/ɯ/}} |{{IPA|/ɰi/}} |{{IPA|/i/}} |- |} ==Alphabetic order== [[Alphabetical order|Alphabetic order]] in the Korean alphabet is called the ''ganada'' order, ({{lang|ko|가나다 순|nocat=yes}}) after the first three letters of the alphabet. The alphabetical order of the Korean alphabet does not mix consonants and vowels. Rather, first are [[velar consonant]]s, then [[Coronal consonant|coronals]], [[Labial consonant|labials]], [[sibilant]]s, etc. The vowels come after the consonants. === Historical orders === The order from the ''[[Hunminjeongeum|Hunminjeong'eum]]'' in 1446 was: :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ}} :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ}} In 1527, [[Choe Sejin]] reorganized the alphabet in [[Hunmongjahoe]]: :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㆁ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅿ ㅇ ㅎ}} :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㆍ}} This is the basis of the modern alphabetic orders. It was before the development of the Korean tense consonants and the double letters that represent them, and before the conflation of the letters {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} (') and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} (ng). Thus, when the [[North Korea]]n and [[South Korea]]n governments implemented full use of the Korean alphabet, they ordered these letters differently, with North Korea, placing new letters at the end of the alphabet and South Korea grouping similar letters together. === North Korean order === The new, double, letters are placed at the end of the consonants, just before the ' {{lang|ko|ㅇ|nocat=yes}}, so as not to alter the traditional order of the rest of the alphabet. : {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ}} : {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ}} All digraphs and [[trigraph (orthography)|trigraph]]s, including the old diphthongs {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}}, are placed after the simple vowels, again maintaining Choe's alphabetic order. The order of the final letters is: :(none) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㅆ}} Unlike when it is initial, this {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} is pronounced, as the nasal {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} ''ng,'' which occurs only as a final in the modern language. The double letters are placed to the very end, as in the initial order, but the combined consonants are ordered immediately after their first element. === South Korean order === In the Southern order, double letters are placed immediately after their single counterparts: :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱㄲㄴㄷㄸㄹㅁㅂㅅㅆㅇㅈㅉㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ}} :{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ}} The modern [[monophthong]]al vowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: ''i'' is added first, then [[Iotization|iotized]], then iotized with added ''i''. [[Diphthong]]s beginning with ''w'' are ordered according to their spelling, as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} plus a second vowel, not as separate [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s. The order of the final letters ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}}) is: :(none) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄲ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ}} ("None" means there is no final letter.) Every syllable begins with a consonant (or the silent ㅇ) that is followed by a vowel (e.g. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|다}}). Some syllables such as "{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|달}}" and "{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|닭}}" have a final consonant or final consonant cluster ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}}). Then, 399 combinations are possible for "two-letter syllables" and 10,773 possible combinations for syllables with more than two "letters" (27 possible final endings), for a total of 11,172 possible combinations of Korean alphabet "letters" to form syllables. ==Letter names== {{Listen |filename=Giyuk.ogg|title=Korean consonants|description=names of the Korean consonant letters (South Korean) |filename2=Korean vowels.ogg|title2=Korean vowels|description2=names of the Korean vowel letters }} Letters in the Korean alphabet were named by Korean linguist [[Choe Sejin]] in 1527. South Korea uses Choe's traditional names, most of which follow the format of ''letter'' + ''i'' + ''eu'' + ''letter''. However, as the syllables {{lang|ko|윽}} ''euk'', {{lang|ko|읃}} ''eut'', and {{lang|ko|읏}} ''eut'' did not occur in the language, Choe gave those letters the modified names {{lang|ko|기역}} ''gi'''yeok''''', {{lang|ko|디귿}} ''di'''geut''''', and {{lang|ko|시옷}} ''si'''ot''''', using native syllables. Originally, Choe gave {{lang|ko|ㅈ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅊ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅋ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅌ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅍ}}, and {{lang|ko|ㅎ}} the irregular one-syllable names of ''ji'', ''chi'', ''ḳi'', ''ṭi'', ''p̣i'', and ''hi'', because they should not be used as final consonants, as specified in ''[[Hunminjeongeum|Hunminjeong'eum]]''. However, after establishment of the new orthography in 1933, which let all consonants be used as finals, the names changed to the present forms. North Korea regularized Choe's original names when it made the Korean alphabet its official orthography. === In North Korea === The chart below shows names used in North Korea for consonants in the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in North Korean alphabetic order, and the letter names are romanised with the [[McCune–Reischauer|McCune-Reischauer]] system, which is widely used in North Korea. The tense consonants are described with the word {{lang|ko|된}} ''toen'' meaning "hard". {| class="wikitable" !Consonant |[[ㄱ]] |[[ㄴ]] |[[ㄷ]] |[[ㄹ]] |[[ㅁ]] |[[ㅂ]] |[[ㅅ]] |[[ㅈ]] |[[ㅊ]] |[[ㅋ]] |[[ㅌ]] |[[ㅍ]] |[[ㅎ]] |ㄲ |ㄸ |ㅃ |ㅆ |[[ㅇ]] |ㅉ |- !Name |기윽 |니은 |디읃 |리을 |미음 |비읍 |시읏 |지읒 |치읓 |키읔 |티읕 |피읖 |히읗 |된기윽 |된디읃 |된비읍 |된시읏 |이응 |된지읒 |- ![[McCune–Reischauer|McCR]] |''giŭk'' |''niŭn'' |''diŭt'' |''riŭl'' |''miŭm'' |''piŭp'' |''siŭt'' |''jiŭt'' |''chiŭt'' |''ḳiŭk'' |''ṭiŭt'' |''p̣iŭp'' |''hiŭh'' |''toen'giŭk'' |''toendiŭt'' |''toenbiŭp'' |''toensiŭt'' |''<nowiki/>'iŭng'' |''toenjiŭt'' |} In North Korea, an alternative way to refer to a consonant is ''letter'' + ''ŭ'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}), for example, gŭ ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|그}}) for the letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}, and ''ssŭ'' ({{lang|ko|쓰|nocat=yes}}) for the letter {{lang|ko|ㅆ|nocat=yes}}. As in South Korea, the names of vowels in the Korean alphabet are the same as the sound of each vowel. === In South Korea === The chart below shows names used in South Korea for consonants of the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in the South Korean alphabetic order, and the letter names are romanised in the [[Revised Romanization of Korean|Revised Romanization]] system, which is the official [[romanization]] system of South Korea. The tense consonants are described with the word {{lang|ko|쌍}} ''ssang'' meaning "double". {| class="wikitable" !Consonant |{{lang|ko|[[ㄱ]]}} |{{lang|ko|ㄲ}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㄴ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㄷ]]}} |{{lang|ko|ㄸ}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㄹ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅁ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅂ]]}} |{{lang|ko|ㅃ}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅅ]]}} |{{lang|ko|ㅆ}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅇ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅈ]]}} |{{lang|ko|ㅉ}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅊ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅋ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅌ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅍ]]}} |{{lang|ko|[[ㅎ]]}} |- !Name (Hangul) |{{lang|ko|기역}} |{{lang|ko|쌍기역}} |{{lang|ko|니은}} |{{lang|ko|디귿}} |{{lang|ko|쌍디귿}} |{{lang|ko|리을}} |{{lang|ko|미음}} |{{lang|ko|비읍}} |{{lang|ko|쌍비읍}} |{{lang|ko|시옷}} |{{lang|ko|쌍시옷}} |{{lang|ko|이응}} |{{lang|ko|지읒}} |{{lang|ko|쌍지읒}} |{{lang|ko|치읓}} |{{lang|ko|키읔}} |{{lang|ko|티읕}} |{{lang|ko|피읖}} |{{lang|ko|히읗}} |- !Name (English) |''giyeok'' |''ssangiyeok'' |''nieun'' |''digeut'' |''ssangdigeut'' |''rieul'' |''mieum'' |''bieup'' |''ssangbieup'' |''siot'' |''ssangsieut'' |''<nowiki/>'ieung'' |''jieut'' |''ssangjieut'' |''chieut'' |''ḳieuk'' |''ṭieut'' |''p̣ieup'' |''hieuh'' |} ==Stroke order== Letters in the Korean alphabet have adopted certain rules of [[Chinese calligraphy]], although {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} use a circle, which is not used in printed Chinese characters. <gallery widths="60" heights="36" perrow="10"> File:ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄱ|nocat=yes}} (giyeok {{lang|ko|기역|nocat=yes}}) File:ㄴ stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄴ|nocat=yes}} (nieun {{lang|ko|니은|nocat=yes}}) File:ㄷ (digeut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄷ|nocat=yes}} (digeut {{lang|ko|디귿|nocat=yes}}) File:ㄹ (rieul) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄹ|nocat=yes}} (rieul {{lang|ko|리을|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅁ (mieum) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅁ|nocat=yes}} (mieum {{lang|ko|미음|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅂ (bieup) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅂ|nocat=yes}} (bieup {{lang|ko|비읍|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅅ (siot) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅅ|nocat=yes}} (sieut {{lang|ko|시옷|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅇ (ieung) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅇ|nocat=yes}} ('ieung {{lang|ko|이응|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅈ (jieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅈ|nocat=yes}} (jieut {{lang|ko|지읒|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅊ (chieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅊ|nocat=yes}} (chieut {{lang|ko|치읓|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅋ (kieuk) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅋ|nocat=yes}} (ḳieuk {{lang|ko|키읔|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅌ (tieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅌ|nocat=yes}} (ṭieut {{lang|ko|티읕|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅍ (pieup) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅍ|nocat=yes}} (p̣ieup {{lang|ko|피읖|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅎ (hieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅎ|nocat=yes}} (hieuh {{lang|ko|히읗|nocat=yes}}) File:ㅏ (a) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅏ|nocat=yes}} (a) File:ㅐ (ae) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅐ|nocat=yes}} (ae) File:ㅓ (eo) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅓ|nocat=yes}} (eo) File:ㅔ (e) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅔ|nocat=yes}} (e) File:ㅗ (o) stroke order-2.png|{{lang|ko|ㅗ|nocat=yes}} (o) File:ㅜ (u) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅜ|nocat=yes}} (u) File:一 (eu) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅡ|nocat=yes}} (eu) </gallery> For the iotized vowels, which are not shown, the short stroke is simply doubled. ==Letter design== {{Calligraphy}} Scripts typically transcribe languages at the level of [[morpheme]]s ([[logogram|logographic scripts]] like Hanja), of [[syllable]]s ([[Syllabary|syllabaries]] like ''[[kana]]''), of [[segment (linguistics)|segment]]s ([[alphabet]]ic scripts like the [[Latin script]] used to write English and many other languages), or, on occasion, of [[distinctive features]]. The Korean alphabet incorporates aspects of the latter three, grouping sounds into [[syllable]]s, using distinct symbols for [[Segment (linguistics)|segments]], and in some cases using distinct strokes to indicate [[distinctive feature]]s such as [[place of articulation]] ([[labial consonant|labial]], [[coronal consonant|coronal]], [[velar consonant|velar]], or [[glottal consonant|glottal]]) and [[manner of articulation]] ([[plosive]], [[nasal stop|nasal]], [[sibilant consonant|sibilant]], [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]]) for consonants, and [[iotization]] (a preceding ''i-''sound), [[Vowel harmony|harmonic class]] and [[i-mutation]] for vowels. For instance, the consonant {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} ṭ {{IPA|[tʰ]}} is composed of three strokes, each one meaningful: the top stroke indicates {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is a plosive, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} ''ʔ'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} ''g'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} ''d'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} ''j'', which have the same stroke (the last is an [[Affricate consonant|affricate]], a plosive–fricative sequence); the middle stroke indicates that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is aspirated, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} ''h'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} ''ḳ'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} ''ch'', which also have this stroke; and the bottom stroke indicates that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is alveolar, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} ''n'', {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} ''d'', and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} ''l''. (This element is said to represent the shape of the tongue when pronouncing coronal consonants, though this is not certain.) Two consonants, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}, have dual pronunciations, and appear to be composed of two elements corresponding to these two pronunciations: {{IPA|[ŋ]}}~silence for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} and {{IPA|[m]}}~{{IPA|[w]}} for obsolete {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}. With vowel letters, a short stroke connected to the main line of the letter indicates that this is one of the vowels that ''can'' be iotized; this stroke is then doubled when the vowel ''is'' iotized. The position of the stroke indicates which harmonic class the vowel belongs to, [[yin and yang|"light"]] (top or right) or [[yin and yang|"dark"]] (bottom or left). In the modern alphabet, an additional vertical stroke indicates [[i-mutation]], deriving {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} {{IPA|[ɛ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} {{IPA|[ø]}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅟ}} {{IPA|[y]}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} {{IPA|[a]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} {{IPA|[o]}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} {{IPA|[u]}}. However, this is not part of the intentional design of the script, but rather a natural development from what were originally [[diphthong]]s ending in the vowel {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} {{IPA|[i]}}. Indeed, in many [[Dialects of Korean|Korean dialects]],{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} including the standard [[Seoul Dialect|dialect of Seoul]], some of these may still be diphthongs. Note: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} {{IPA|[e]}} as a morpheme is ㅓ combined with ㅣ as a vertical stroke. As a phoneme, its sound is not by i-mutation of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} {{IPA|[ʌ]}}. Some linguists have praised the Korean alphabet for its [[featural alphabet|featural]] design; beyond the fact that the shapes of the letters are related to the [[feature (phonology)|features]] of the sounds they represent, the Korean alphabet also attracts approval for the fact that vowels are made from vertical or horizontal lines so that they are easily distinguishable from consonants. Although the design of the script may be featural, for all practical purposes it behaves as an alphabet. The letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is not read as three letters ''alveolar aspirated plosive'', for instance, but as a single consonant ''t''. Likewise, the former diphthong {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} is read as a single vowel ''e''. Beside the letters, the Korean alphabet originally employed [[diacritic mark]]s to indicate [[pitch accent]]. A syllable with a high pitch ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|거성}}) was marked with a dot (<span lang="ko" style="font-family: '은 자모 바탕', Malgun Gothic, UnJamoBatang, UnBatang, Code2000, serif">ᅟᅠ〮</span>) to the left of it (when writing vertically); a syllable with a rising pitch ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|상성}}) was marked with a double dot, like a colon (<span lang="ko" style="font-family: '은 자모 바탕', Malgun Gothic, UnJamoBatang, UnBatang, Code2000, serif">ᅟᅠ〯</span>). These are no longer used, as modern Seoul Korean has lost tonality. [[Vowel length]] has also been neutralized in Modern Korean,<ref name="Kim-Renaud_Tranter">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=I7PTXPq_nSAC&pg=PA127|title=The Languages of Japan and Korea|last=Kim-Renaud|first=Young-Key|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2012|isbn=9780415462877|editor-last=Tranter|editor-first=Nicolas|location=Oxon, UK|pages=127}}</ref> and is no longer written. === Consonant design === The consonant letters fall into five [[wiktionary:homorganic|homorganic]] groups, each with a basic shape, and one or more letters derived from this shape by means of additional strokes. In the ''Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye'' account, the basic shapes iconically represent the articulations the [[tongue]], [[palate]], [[teeth]], and [[throat]] take when making these sounds. {|class="infobox wikitable" style="width:120px;" ! !Simple !Aspirated !Tense |- !velar |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ}} |- !fricatives |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} | |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} |- !palatal |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅉ}} |- !coronal |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄸ}} |- !bilabial |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅃ}} |} The Korean names for the groups are taken from Chinese [[phonetics]]: * [[Velar consonant]]s ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|아음, 牙音}} ''a'eum'' "molar sounds") **{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} ''g'' {{IPA|[k]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} ḳ {{IPA|[kʰ]}} ** Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} is a side view of the back of the tongue raised toward the velum (soft palate). (For illustration, access the external link below.) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} with a stroke for the burst of aspiration. * [[Sibilant consonant]]s (fricative or palatal) ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|치음, 齒音}} ''chieum'' "dental sounds"): ** {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} s {{IPA|[s]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} j {{IPA|[tɕ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} ch {{IPA|[tɕʰ]}} ** Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} was originally shaped like a wedge ∧, without the [[serif]] on top. It represents a side view of the teeth. The line topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The stroke topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} represents an additional burst of aspiration. * [[Coronal consonant]]s ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|설음, 舌音}} ''seoreum'' "lingual sounds"): **{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} ''n'' {{IPA|[n]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} ''d'' {{IPA|[t]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} ṭ {{IPA|[tʰ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} ''r'' {{IPA|[ɾ, l]}} ** Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} is a side view of the tip of the tongue raised toward the [[alveolar ridge]] (gum ridge). The letters derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} are pronounced with the same basic articulation. The line topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The middle stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} represents the burst of aspiration. The top of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} represents a [[flap consonant|flap]] of the tongue. * [[Bilabial consonant]]s ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|순음, 唇音}} ''suneum'' "labial sounds"): **{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} ''m'' {{IPA|[m]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} ''b'' {{IPA|[p]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} ''p̣'' {{IPA|[pʰ]}} ** Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} represents the outline of the lips in contact with each other. The top of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} represents the release burst of the ''b''. The top stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} is for the burst of aspiration. * [[Dorsal consonant]]s ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|후음, 喉音}} ''hueum'' "throat sounds"): **{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} '/''ng'' {{IPA|[ʔ, ŋ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} ''h'' {{IPA|[h]}} ** Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} is an outline of the throat. Originally {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} was two letters, a simple circle for silence (null consonant), and a circle topped by a vertical line, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}}, for the nasal ''ng''. A now obsolete letter, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}}, represented a [[glottal stop]], which is pronounced in the throat and had closure represented by the top line, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱㄷㅈ}}. Derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} is {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}}, in which the extra stroke represents a burst of aspiration. === Vowel design === [[File:Hangul Vowel Diag.svg|thumb|450px|A diagram showing the derivation of vowels in the Korean alphabet.]] Vowel letters are based on three elements: * A horizontal line representing the flat Earth, the essence of ''[[yin and yang|yin]]''. * A point for the Sun in the heavens, the essence of ''[[yin and yang|yang]]''. (This becomes a short stroke when written with a brush.) * A vertical line for the upright Human, the neutral mediator between the Heaven and Earth. Short strokes (dots in the earliest documents) were added to these three basic elements to derive the vowel letter: ====Simple vowels==== * Horizontal letters: these are mid-high back vowels. ** bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} ''o'' ** dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} ''u'' ** neutral {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} ''eu'' (''ŭ'') * Vertical letters: these were once low vowels. ** bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} ''a'' ** dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} ''eo'' (''ŏ'') ** neutral {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} ''i'' ====Compound vowels==== The Korean alphabet does not have a letter for ''w'' sound. Since an ''o'' or ''u'' before an ''a'' or ''eo'' became a {{IPA|[w]}} sound, and {{IPA|[w]}} occurred nowhere else, {{IPA|[w]}} could always be analyzed as a [[phoneme|phonemic]] ''o'' or ''u'', and no letter for {{IPA|[w]}} was needed. However, vowel harmony is observed: "dark" {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}&nbsp;''u'' with "dark" {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}}&nbsp;''eo'' for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} ''wo;'' "bright" {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}&nbsp;''o'' with "bright" {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}}&nbsp;''a'' for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}} ''wa'': * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}}&nbsp;<small>''wa''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}&nbsp;<small>''o''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}}&nbsp;<small>''a''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}}&nbsp;<small>''wo''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}&nbsp;<small>''u''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}}&nbsp;<small>''eo''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅙ}}&nbsp;<small>''wae''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}&nbsp;<small>''o''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}}&nbsp;<small>''ae''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅞ}}&nbsp;<small>''we''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}&nbsp;<small>''u''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}}&nbsp;<small>''e''</small> The compound vowels ending in {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} ''i'' were originally [[diphthong]]s. However, several have since evolved into pure vowels: * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}}&nbsp;<small>''ae''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}}&nbsp;<small>''a''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> (pronounced {{IPA|[ɛ]}}) * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}}&nbsp;<small>''e''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}}&nbsp;<small>''eo''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> (pronounced {{IPA|[e]}}) * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅙ}}&nbsp;<small>''wae''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}}&nbsp;<small>''wa''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}}&nbsp;<small>''oe''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}&nbsp;<small>''o''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> (formerly pronounced {{IPA|[ø]}}, see [[Korean phonology#Monophtongs|Korean phonology]]) * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅞ}}&nbsp;<small>''we''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}}&nbsp;<small>''wo''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅟ}}&nbsp;<small>''wi''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}&nbsp;<small>''u''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> (formerly pronounced {{IPA|[y]}}, see [[Korean phonology#Monophtongs|Korean phonology]]) * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}}&nbsp;<small>''ui''</small> = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}&nbsp;<small>''eu''</small> + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}}&nbsp;<small>''i''</small> ====Iotized vowels==== There is no letter for ''y''. Instead, this sound is indicated by doubling the stroke attached to the baseline of the vowel letter. Of the seven basic vowels, four could be preceded by a ''y'' sound, and these four were written as a dot next to a line. (Through the influence of Chinese calligraphy, the dots soon became connected to the line: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓㅏㅜㅗ}}.) A preceding ''y'' sound, called "iotization", was indicated by doubling this dot: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅕㅑㅠㅛ}} <small>''yeo, ya, yu, yo''</small>. The three vowels that could not be iotized were written with a single stroke: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡㆍㅣ}} <small>''eu, (arae a), i''</small>. {|class="infobox wikitable" style="width:120px;" |- !Simple !Iotized |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅑ}} |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅕ}} |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅛ}} |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅠ}} |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} | |- |{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} | |} The simple iotized vowels are: * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅑ}}&nbsp;<small>''ya''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} &nbsp;<small>''a''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅕ}}&nbsp;<small>''yeo''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} &nbsp;<small>''eo''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅛ}}&nbsp;<small>''yo''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} &nbsp;<small>''o''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅠ}}&nbsp;<small>''yu''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} &nbsp;<small>''u''</small> There are also two iotized diphthongs: * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅒ}}&nbsp;<small>''yae''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} &nbsp;<small>''ae''</small> * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅖ}}&nbsp;<small>''ye''</small> from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} &nbsp;<small>''e''</small> The Korean language of the 15th century had [[vowel harmony]] to a greater extent than it does today. Vowels in grammatical [[morpheme]]s changed according to their environment, falling into groups that "harmonized" with each other. This affected the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] of the language, and Korean phonology described it in terms of ''yin'' and ''yang'': If a root word had ''yang'' ('bright') vowels, then most suffixes attached to it also had to have ''yang'' vowels; conversely, if the root had ''yin'' ('dark') vowels, the suffixes had to be ''yin'' as well. There was a third harmonic group called "mediating" ('neutral' in Western terminology) that could coexist with either ''yin'' or ''yang'' vowels. The Korean neutral vowel was {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} ''i''. The ''yin'' vowels were {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡㅜㅓ}} ''eu, u, eo''; the dots are in the ''yin'' directions of 'down' and 'left'. The ''yang'' vowels were {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍㅗㅏ}} ''ə, o, a,'' with the dots in the ''yang'' directions of 'up' and 'right'. The ''Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye'' states that the shapes of the non-dotted letters {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡㆍㅣ}} were chosen to represent the concepts of ''yin'', ''yang'', and mediation: Earth, Heaven, and Human. (The letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} ''ə'' is now obsolete except in the Jeju language.) The third parameter in designing the vowel letters was choosing {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} as the graphic base of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} as the graphic base of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}}. A full understanding of what these horizontal and vertical groups had in common would require knowing the exact sound values these vowels had in the 15th century. The uncertainty is primarily with the three letters {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍㅓㅏ}}. Some linguists reconstruct these as {{IPA|*a, *ɤ, *e}}, respectively; others as {{IPA|*ə, *e, *a}}. A third reconstruction is to make them all middle vowels as {{IPA|*ʌ, *ɤ, *a}}.<ref>[http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/whitman/FrellWhitman.pdf The Japanese/Korean Vowel Correspondences] by Bjarke Frellesvig and John Whitman. Section 3 deals with Middle Korean vowels.</ref> With the third reconstruction, Middle Korean vowels actually line up in a vowel harmony pattern, albeit with only one front vowel and four middle vowels: {|class="wikitable" |- style="vertical-align:top;" |rowspan="4"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} {{IPA|*i}} |style="color:blue;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} {{IPA|*ɯ}} |rowspan="2" style="color:blue;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} {{IPA|*u}} |- style="vertical-align:top;" |style="color:blue;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} {{IPA|*ɤ}} |- style="vertical-align:top;" |style="color:red;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} {{IPA|*ʌ}} |rowspan="2" style="color:red;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} {{IPA|*o}} |- style="vertical-align:top;" |style="color:red;"|&nbsp;{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} {{IPA|*a}} |} However, the horizontal letters {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡㅜㅗ}} <small>''eu,&nbsp;u,&nbsp;o''</small> do all appear to have been mid to high [[back vowel]]s, {{IPA|[*ɯ, *u, *o]}}, and thus to have formed a coherent group phonetically in every reconstruction. ====Traditional account==== {{See also|Origin of Hangul}} The generally accepted account<ref group="nb">The explanation of the origin of the shapes of the letters is provided within a section of [[Hunminjeongeum]] itself, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|훈민정음 해례본 제자해}} (Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon Jajahae ''or'' Hunminjeongeum, Chapter: Paraphrases and Examples, Section: Making of Letters), which states: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|牙音ㄱ 象舌根閉喉之形. (아음(어금니 소리) ㄱ은 혀뿌리가 목구멍을 막는 모양을 본뜨고), 舌音ㄴ 象舌附上腭之形 ( 설음(혓 소리) ㄴ은 혀(끝)가 윗 잇몸에 붙는 모양을 본뜨고), 脣音ㅁ 象口形. ( 순음(입술소리) ㅁ은 입모양을 본뜨고), 齒音ㅅ 象齒形. ( 치음(잇 소리) ㅅ은 이빨 모양을 본뜨고) 象齒形. 喉音ㅇ. 象喉形 (목구멍 소리ㅇ은 목구멍의 꼴을 본뜬 것이다). ㅋ比ㄱ. 聲出稍 . 故加 . ㄴ而ㄷ. ㄷ而ㅌ. ㅁ而ㅂ. ㅂ而ㅍ. ㅅ而ㅈ. ㅈ而ㅊ. ㅇ而ㅡ. ㅡ而ㅎ. 其因聲加 之義皆同. 而唯　爲異 (ㅋ은ㄱ에 견주어 소리 남이 조금 세므로 획을 더한 것이고, ㄴ에서 ㄷ으로, ㄷ에서 ㅌ으로 함과, ㅁ에서 ㅂ으로 ㅂ에서 ㅍ으로 함과, ㅅ에서 ㅈ으로 ㅈ에서 ㅊ으로 함과, ㅇ에서 ㅡ으로 ㅡ에서 ㅎ으로 함도, 그 소리를 따라 획을 더한 뜻이 같다 . 오직 ㅇ자는 다르다.) 半舌音ㄹ. 半齒音. 亦象舌齒之形而異其體. (반혓소리ㄹ과, 반잇소리 '세모자'는 또한 혀와 이의 꼴을 본뜨되, 그 본을 달리하여 획을 더하는 뜻이 없다.}}) ...</ref><ref>[http://blog.paran.com/blog/detail/postBoard.kth?pmcId=sookoeun2145&blogDataId=26450475 Korean orthography rules] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718173123/http://blog.paran.com/blog/detail/postBoard.kth?pmcId=sookoeun2145&blogDataId=26450475 |date=2011-07-18 }} {{Unreliable source?|date=January 2009}}</ref> on the design of the letters is that the vowels are derived from various combinations of the following three components: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ}}. Here, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} symbolically stands for the (sun in) heaven, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} stands for the (flat) earth, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} stands for an (upright) human. The original sequence of the Korean vowels, as stated in [[Hunminjeongeum]], listed these three vowels first, followed by various combinations. Thus, the original order of the vowels was: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ}}. Note that two positive vowels ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ ㅏ}}) including one {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} are followed by two negative vowels including one {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, then by two positive vowels each including two of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, and then by two negative vowels each including two of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}. The same theory provides the most simple explanation of the shapes of the consonants as an approximation of the shapes of the most representative organ needed to form that sound. The original order of the consonants in Hunminjeong'eum was: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ}}. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} representing the {{IPA|/k/}} sound geometrically describes a tongue just before the moment of pronunciation as the tongue blocks the passage of air. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} representing the {{IPA|/kʰ/}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} by adding another stroke. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} representing the {{IPA|/ŋ/}} sound may have been derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} by addition of a stroke. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} representing the {{IPA|/t/}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} by addition of a stroke. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} representing the {{IPA|/tʰ/}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} by adding another stroke. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} representing the {{IPA|/n/}} sound geometrically describes a tongue making contact with an upper palate just before making the "n" sound. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} representing the {{IPA|/p/}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} by adding strokes. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} representing the {{IPA|/pʰ/}} sound is a variant of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}}, which is obtained by rotating 90 degrees and extending the horizontal strokes. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} representing the {{IPA|/m/}} sound geometrically describes a closed mouth before opening the lips. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} representing the {{IPA|/tɕ/}} sound is derived from the shape of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} by adding strokes. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} representing the {{IPA|/tɕʰ/}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} by adding another stroke. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} representing the {{IPA|/s/}} sound geometrically describes a near contact between the tongue and the teeth.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}<!-- not a diagram of the tooth? - While the literal text of 훈민정음 해례본 제자해 talks only about teeth (or a tooth), all root consonants (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ) include the shape of the tongue. It is more likely the shape of ㅅ represents the contact between the teeth AND the tongue (dental consonants) --> {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} representing the {{IPA|/ʔ/}} sound geometrically describes an open throat with a bar to indicate that there is an aspiration. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} representing the {{IPA|/h/}} sound is derived from ㆆ with the extra stroke representing a stronger flow of the aspiration. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} representing the absence of a consonant geometrically describes an open mouth, which necessarily accompanies the following vowel. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} representing the {{IPA|/ɾ/}} and {{IPA|/l/}} sounds geometrically describes a backward-bending tongue. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅿ}} representing a weak {{IPA|/z/}} sound is also derived from the shape of the teeth, but has a different origin than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}}{{clarify|date=May 2013}} and is not derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} by addition of a stroke. ====Ledyard's theory of consonant design==== [[File:King Sejong statue inscription.jpg|thumb|A close-up of the inscription on the statue of King Sejong above. It reads ''Sejong Daewang'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|세종대왕}} and illustrates the forms of the letters originally promulgated by Sejong. Note the dots on the vowels, the geometric symmetry of ''s'' and ''j'' in the first two syllables, the asymmetrical lip at the top-left of the ''d'' in the third, and the distinction between initial and final ''ieung'' in the last.]] [[File:Phagspa-Hangul comparison.svg|thumb| (Top) 'Phags-pa letters {{IPA|[k, t, p, s, l]}}, and their supposed Korean derivatives {{IPA|[k, t, p, ts, l]}}. Note the lip on both 'Phags-pa {{IPA|[t]}} and the Korean alphabet {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}}.<br/> (Bottom) Derivation of 'Phags-pa ''w'', ''v'', ''f'' from variants of the letter {{IPA|[h]}} (left) plus a subscript {{IPA|[w]}}, and analogous composition of the Korean alphabet ''w'', ''v, ''f'' from variants of the basic letter {{IPA|[p]}} plus a circle.]] Although the ''Hunminjeong'eum Haerye'' explains the design of the consonantal letters in terms of [[articulatory phonetics]], as a purely innovative creation, several theories suggest which external sources may have inspired or influenced King Sejong's creation. Professor [[Gari Ledyard]] of Columbia University studied possible connections between Hangul and the Mongol [['Phags-pa script]] of the [[Yuan dynasty]]. He believed that the role of 'Phags-pa script in the creation of the Korean alphabet was quite limited: {{quotation|It should be clear to any reader that in the total picture, that ['Phags-pa script's] role was quite limited ... Nothing would disturb me more, after this study is published, than to discover in a work on the history of writing a statement like the following: "According to recent investigations, the Korean alphabet was derived from ''the Mongol's [[phags-pa script]]''."<ref>''The Korean language reform of 1446: the origin, background, and Early History of the Korean Alphabet'', Gari Keith Ledyard. University of California, 1966, p. 367–368.</ref> An affine theory states that the consonants are derived from the shape of the speaker's lips and tongue during the pronunciation of the consonants (initially, at least), but this would appear somewhat to strain credulity.<ref>Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, ''The World's Writing Systems'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 219-220</ref>}} Ledyard posits that five of the Korean letters have shapes inspired by 'Phags-pa; a sixth basic letter, the null initial {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}, was invented by Sejong. The rest of the letters were derived internally from these six, essentially as described in the ''Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye''. However, the five borrowed consonants were not the graphically simplest letters considered basic by the ''Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye'', but instead the consonants basic to Chinese phonology: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}}. The ''Hunmin Jeong-eum'' states that King Sejong adapted the {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} (''gojeon'', "''Gǔ'' Seal Script") in creating the Korean alphabet. The {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} has never been identified. The primary meaning of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古}} ''gǔ'' is "old" ("Old Seal Script"), frustrating philologists because the Korean alphabet bears no functional similarity to Chinese {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|篆字}} ''zhuànzì'' [[seal script]]s. However, Ledyard believes {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古}} ''gǔ'' may be a pun on {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|蒙古}} ''Měnggǔ'' "Mongol", and that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} is an abbreviation of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|蒙古篆字}} "Mongol Seal Script", that is, the formal variant of the 'Phags-pa alphabet written to look like the Chinese seal script. There were 'Phags-pa manuscripts in the Korean palace library, including some in the seal-script form, and several of Sejong's ministers knew the script well. If this was the case, Sejong's evasion on the Mongol connection can be understood in light of Korea's relationship with [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] China after the fall of the Mongol [[Yuan dynasty]], and of the literati's contempt for the Mongols as "barbarians". According to Ledyard, the five borrowed letters were graphically simplified, which allowed for consonant clusters and left room to add a stroke to derive the aspirate plosives, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋㅌㅍㅊ}}. But in contrast to the traditional account, the non-plosives ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ ㄴ ㅁ ㅅ}}) were derived by ''removing'' the top of the basic letters. He points out that while it is easy to derive {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} by removing the top, it is not clear how to derive {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} in the traditional account, since the shape of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} is not analogous to those of the other plosives. The explanation of the letter ''ng'' also differs from the traditional account. Many Chinese words began with ''ng'', but by King Sejong's day, initial ''ng'' was either silent or pronounced {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in China, and was silent when these words were borrowed into Korean. Also, the expected shape of ''ng'' (the short vertical line left by removing the top stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}) would have looked almost identical to the vowel {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} {{IPA|[i]}}. Sejong's solution solved both problems: The vertical stroke left from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} was added to the null symbol {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} to create {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} (a circle with a vertical line on top), iconically capturing both the pronunciation {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in the middle or end of a word, and the usual silence at the beginning. (The graphic distinction between null {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} and ''ng'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} was eventually lost.) Another letter composed of two elements to represent two regional pronunciations was {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}, which transcribed the Chinese [[Syllable onset|initial]] {{lang|zh|微}}. This represented either ''m'' or ''w'' in various Chinese dialects, and was composed of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} [m] plus {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} (from 'Phags-pa [w]). In 'Phags-pa, a loop under a letter represented ''w'' after vowels, and Ledyard hypothesized that this became the loop at the bottom of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}. In 'Phags-pa the Chinese initial {{lang|zh|微}} is also transcribed as a compound with ''w'', but in its case the ''w'' is placed under an ''h''. Actually, the Chinese consonant series {{lang|zh|微非敷}} ''w'', ''v'', ''f'' is transcribed in 'Phags-pa by the addition of a ''w'' under three graphic variants of the letter for ''h'', and the Korean alphabet parallels this convention by adding the ''w'' loop to the labial series {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁㅂㅍ}} ''m'', ''b'', ''p'', producing now-obsolete {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱㅸㆄ}} ''w'', ''v'', ''f.'' (Phonetic values in Korean are uncertain, as these consonants were only used to transcribe Chinese.) As a final piece of evidence, Ledyard notes that most of the borrowed Korean letters were simple geometric shapes, at least originally, but that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} ''d'' [t] always had a small lip protruding from the upper left corner, just as the 'Phags-pa ''d'' [t] did. This lip can be traced back to the Tibetan letter ''d''. ==Obsolete letters== [[File:Hankidoemhanja.png|thumb|''[[Hankido]]'', a martial art, using the obsolete vowel ''arae-a'' (top)]] Numerous obsolete Korean letters and sequences are no longer used in Korean. Some of these letters were only ever used to represent the sounds of Chinese [[rime table]]s. Some of the Korean sounds represented by these obsolete letters still exist in some dialects. * 13 obsolete consonants: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᄛ, ㅱ, ㅸ, ᄼ, ᄾ, ㅿ, ㆁ</span> (as distinct from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}), <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᅎ, ᅐ, ᅔ, ᅕ, ㆄ, ㆆ</span> * 10 obsolete double consonants: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ㅥ, ᄙ, ㅹ, ᄽ, ᄿ, ᅇ, ᇮ<!-- ssangyesieung -->, ᅏ, ᅑ, ㆅ</span> * 66 obsolete clusters of two consonants: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᇃ, ᄓ, ㅦ, ᄖ, ㅧ, ㅨ, ᇉ, ᄗ, ᇋ, ᄘ, ㅪ, ㅬ, ᇘ, ㅭ, ᇚ, ᇛ, ㅮ, ㅯ, ㅰ, ᇠ, ᇡ, ㅲ, ᄟ, ㅳ, ᇣ, ㅶ, ᄨ, ㅷ, ᄪ, ᇥ, ㅺ, ㅻ, ㅼ, ᄰ, ᄱ, ㅽ, ᄵ, ㅾ, ᄷ, ᄸ, ᄹ, ᄺ, ᄻ, ᅁ, ᅂ, ᅃ, ᅄ, ᅅ, ᅆ, ᅈ, ᅉ, ᅊ, ᅋ, ᇬ<!-- yesieung-kiyeok -->, ᇭ<!-- yesieung-ssangkiyeok -->, ㆂ, ㆃ, ᇯ<!-- yesieung-khieukh -->, ᅍ, ᅒ, ᅓ, ᅖ, ᇵ, ᇶ, ᇷ, ᇸ</span> * 17 obsolete clusters of three consonants: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᇄ, ㅩ, ᇏ, ᇑ, ᇒ, ㅫ, ᇔ, ᇕ, ᇖ, ᇞ, ㅴ, ㅵ, ᄤ, ᄥ, ᄦ, ᄳ, ᄴ</span> * 1 obsolete vowel: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ㆍ</span> ''arae-a'' * 44 obsolete diphthongs and vowel sequences: <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᆜ, ᆝ, ᆢ,</span> <span lang="ko" style="font-family: Malgun Gothic, Dotum Old Hangul, 돋움 옛한글, 은 자모 바탕, UnJamoBatang, Code2000">ᅷ, ᅸ, ᅹ, ᅺ, ᅻ, ᅼ, ᅽ, ᅾ, ᅿ, ᆀ, ᆁ, ᆂ, ᆃ, ㆇ, ㆈ, ᆆ, ᆇ, ㆉ, ᆉ, ᆊ, ᆋ, ᆌ, ᆍ, ᆎ, ᆏ, ᆐ, ㆊ, ㆋ, ᆓ, ㆌ, ᆕ, ᆖ, ᆗ, ᆘ, ᆙ, ᆚ, ᆛ, ᆟ, ᆠ, ㆎ</span> In the original Korean alphabet system, double letters were used to represent Chinese [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|濁音}}) consonants, which survive in the [[Shanghainese (dialect)|Shanghainese]] [[slack voice|slack]] consonants and were not used for Korean words. It was only later that a similar convention was used to represent the modern "tense" ([[Faucalized voice|faucalized]]) consonants of Korean. The sibilant ("dental") consonants were modified to represent the two series of Chinese sibilants, [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] and [[Retroflex consonant|retroflex]], a "round" vs. "sharp" distinction (analogous to ''s'' vs ''sh'') which was never made in Korean, and was even being lost from southern Chinese. The alveolar letters had longer left stems, while retroflexes had longer right stems: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Original consonants | {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅉ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} |- ! ''Chidueum'' ([[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] [[sibilant]]) | {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᄼ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᄽ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅎ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅏ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅔ}} |- ! ''Jeongchieum'' ([[retroflex]] [[sibilant]]) | {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᄾ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᄿ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅐ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅑ}} || {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ᅕ}} |} === Most common === * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|[[wikt:ㆍ|ㆍ]]}} ''ə'' (in Modern Korean called ''arae-a'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|아래아}} "lower ''a"''): Presumably pronounced {{IPAblink|ʌ}}, similar to modern {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} (''eo''). It is written as a dot, positioned beneath the consonant. The ''arae-a'' is not entirely obsolete, as it can be found in various brand names, and in the [[Chejuan language|Jeju language]], where it is pronounced {{IPAblink|ɒ}}. The ''ə'' formed a medial of its own, or was found in the diphthong {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆎ}} ''əy'', written with the dot under the consonant and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} (''i'') to its right, in the same fashion as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}}. * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|[[wikt:ㅿ|ㅿ]]}} ''z'' (''bansiot'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|반시옷}} "half ''s''", ''banchieum'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|반치음}}): An unusual sound, perhaps IPA {{IPA|[ʝ̃]}} (a [[nasalized]] [[Voiced palatal fricative|palatal fricative]]). Modern Korean words previously spelled with {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅿ}} substitute {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}. * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|[[wikt:ㆆ|ㆆ]]}} ''ʔ'' (''yeorinhieuh'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|여린히읗}} "light hieut" or ''doenieung'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|된이응}} "strong ieung"): A [[glottal stop]], "lighter than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} and harsher than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}". * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|[[wikt:ㆁ|ㆁ]]}} ''ŋ'' (''yesieung'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|옛이응}}): The original letter for {{IPA|[ŋ]}}; now conflated with {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} ''ieung''. (With some computer [[typeface|fonts]] such as [[Arial Unicode MS]], ''yesieung'' is shown as a flattened version of ''ieung,'' but the correct form is with a long peak, longer than what one would see on a [[serif]] version of ''ieung''.) * {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|[[wikt:ㅸ|ㅸ]]}} ''β'' (''gabyeounbieup'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|가벼운비읍}}, ''sungyeongeumbieup'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|순경음비읍}}): IPA {{IPA|[f]}}. This letter appears to be a digraph of ''bieup'' and ''ieung'', but it may be more complicated than that. There were three other, less-common letters for sounds in this section of the Chinese [[rime table]]s, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}} ''w'' ({{IPA|[w]}} or {{IPA|[m]}}), a theoretical {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆄ}} ''f'', and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅹ}} ''ff'' {{IPA|[v̤]}}; the bottom element appears to be only coincidentally similar to ''ieung''. Whatever its exact shape, it operates somewhat like a following ''h'' in the Latin alphabet (one may think of these letters as ''bh, mh, ph,'' and ''pph'' respectively). Koreans do not distinguish these sounds now, if they ever did, conflating the [[fricative]]s with the corresponding [[plosive]]s. ==Restored letters== [[File:NOoK-example.png|thumb|The words {{lang|ko|놉니다, 흘렀다, 깨달으니, 지어, 고와, 왕, 가져서}} written in New Orthography.]] To make the Korean alphabet a perfect [[morphophonology|morphophonological]] fit to the Korean language, North Korea introduced six new letters, which were published in the ''[[New Orthography for the Korean Language]]'' and used officially from 1948 to 1954. Two obsolete letters were restored: {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|ㅿ}}}} ({{lang|ko|리읃}}), which was used to indicate an alternation in pronunciation between initial {{IPA|/l/}} and final {{IPA|/d/}}; and {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|ㆆ}}}} ({{lang|ko|히으}}), which was only pronounced between vowels. Two modifications of the letter {{lang|ko|ㄹ}} were introduced, one for a {{lang|ko|ㄹ}}, which is silent finally, and one for a {{lang|ko|ㄹ}}, which doubled between vowels. A hybrid {{lang|ko|ㅂ-ㅜ}} letter was introduced for words that alternated between those two sounds (that is, a {{IPA|/b/}}, which became {{IPA|/w/}} before a vowel). Finally, a vowel {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|1}}}} was introduced for variable [[iotation]]. ==Unicode== {{See also|List of Hangul jamo}} {{Main|Hangul Syllables|l1=Hangul Syllables (Unicode block)|Hangul Jamo (Unicode block)|Hangul Jamo Extended-A|l3=Hangul Jamo Extended-A (Unicode block)|Hangul Jamo Extended-B|l4=Hangul Jamo Extended-B (Unicode block)|Hangul Compatibility Jamo|l5=Hangul Compatibility Jamo (Unicode block)|Enclosed CJK Letters and Months|Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms (Unicode block)}} Hangul Jamo (U+1100–U+11FF) and Hangul Compatibility Jamo (U+3130–U+318F) blocks were added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in June 1993 with the release of version 1.1. The characters were relocated to their present locations in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0. Hangul Jamo Extended-A (U+A960–U+A97F) and Hangul Jamo Extended-B (U+D7B0–U+D7FF) blocks were added to the Unicode Standard in October 2009 with the release of version 5.2. {{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo}} {{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo Extended-A}} {{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo Extended-B}} {{Unicode chart Hangul Compatibility Jamo}} Parenthesised (U+3200–U+321E) and circled (U+3260–U+327E) Hangul compatibility characters are in the [[Enclosed CJK Letters and Months]] block: {{Unicode chart Enclosed CJK Letters and Months|subset=hangul}} [[Halfwidth and fullwidth forms|Half-width]] Hangul compatibility characters (U+FFA0–U+FFDC) are in the [[Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms (Unicode block)|Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms]] block: {{Unicode chart Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms|subset=hangul}} The Korean alphabet in other Unicode blocks: * [[Tone (linguistics)|Tone]] marks for [[Middle Korean]]<ref name="Sohn2001">{{cite book|author=Ho-Min Sohn|title=The Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6gdJIOcoQC&pg=PA48#v=onepage|date=29 March 2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-36943-5|pages=48–}}</ref><ref name="LeeRamsey2000">{{cite book|author1=Iksop Lee|author2=S. Robert Ramsey|title=The Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVgr2BkwAdkC&pg=PA315#v=onepage|year=2000|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-4832-8|pages=315–}}</ref><ref name="LeeRamsey2011">{{cite book|author1=Ki-Moon Lee|author2=S. Robert Ramsey|title=A History of the Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AmspKX3beoC&pg=PA168#v=onepage|date=3 March 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49448-9|pages=168–}}</ref> are in the [[CJK Symbols and Punctuation]] block: &nbsp;〮 (U+302E), &nbsp;〯 (U+302F) * 11,172 precomposed syllables in the Korean alphabet make up the [[Hangul Syllables|Korean Alphabet syllables]] block (U+AC00–U+D7A3) ==Morpho-syllabic blocks== Except for a few grammatical morphemes prior to the twentieth century, no letter stands alone to represent elements of the Korean language. Instead, letters are grouped into [[syllable|syllabic]] or [[morpheme|morphemic]] blocks of at least two and often three: a consonant or a doubled consonant called the ''initial'' (<span lang="ko">초성, 初聲</span> ''choseong'' [[syllable onset]]), a vowel or [[diphthong]] called the ''medial'' (<span lang="ko">중성, 中聲</span> ''jungseong'' [[syllable nucleus]]), and, optionally, a consonant or consonant cluster at the end of the syllable, called the ''final'' (<span lang="ko">종성, 終聲</span> ''jongseong'' [[syllable coda]]). When a syllable has no actual initial consonant, the [[zero consonant|null initial]] {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} ''ieung'' is used as a placeholder. (In the modern Korean alphabet, placeholders are not used for the final position.) Thus, a block contains a minimum of two letters, an initial and a medial. Although the Korean alphabet had historically been organized into syllables, in the modern orthography it is first organized into morphemes, and only secondarily into syllables within those morphemes, with the exception that single-consonant morphemes may not be written alone. The sets of initial and final consonants are not the same. For instance, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} ''ng'' only occurs in final position, while the doubled letters that can occur in final position are limited to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} ''ss'' and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ}} ''kk''. Not including obsolete letters, 11,172 blocks are possible in the Korean alphabet. === Letter placement within a block === {{Alphabet}} The placement or "stacking" of letters in the block follows set patterns based on the shape of the medial. Consonant and vowel sequences such as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅄ}} ''bs,'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} ''wo,'' or obsolete {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅵ}} ''bsd,'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆋ}} ''üye'' are written left to right. Vowels (medials) are written under the initial consonant, to the right, or wrap around the initial from bottom to right, depending on their shape: If the vowel has a horizontal axis like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} ''eu,'' then it is written under the initial; if it has a vertical axis like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} ''i,'' then it is written to the right of the initial; and if it combines both orientations, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}} ''ui,'' then it wraps around the initial from the bottom to the right: {{col-begin|width=auto}} {{col-break}} {| |- align=center | style="width:30px; background:#faa; height:60px;"|initial|| style="background:#afa; width:30px;"|medial |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | style="width:60px; background:#faa; height:30px;"|initial |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:30px;"|medial |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | style="width:30px; background:#faa; height:30px;"|initial | style="background:#afa; width:30px;" rowspan="2"|med.<br>2 |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:30px;"|med.&nbsp;1 |} {{col-end}} A final consonant, if present, is always written at the bottom, under the vowel. This is called {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}} ''batchim'' "supporting floor": {{col-begin|width=auto}} {{col-break}} {| |- align=center | style="width:30px; background:#faa; height:40px;"|initial | style="background:#afa; width:30px;"|medial |- align=center | style="background:#aaf; height:20px;" colspan="2"|final |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | style="width:60px; background:#faa; height:20px;"|initial |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:20px;"|medial |- align=center | style="background:#aaf; height:20px;"|final |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | style="width:30px; background:#faa; height:20px;"|initial | style="background:#afa; width:30px;" rowspan="2"|med.<br>2 |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:20px;"|med. |- align=center | style="background:#aaf; height:20px;" colspan="2"|final |} {{col-end}} A complex final is written left to right: {{col-begin|width=auto}} {{col-break}} {| |- align=center | style="background:#faa; height:40px;"|initial | style="background:#afa;" colspan="2"|medial |- style="text-align:center; background:#aaf;" | colspan="2" style="height:20px;"|final 1 ||final 2 |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | colspan="2" style="background:#faa; width:60px; height:20px;"|initial |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:20px;" colspan="2"|medial |- style="text-align:center; background:#aaf;" | style="height:20px;"|final 1 ||final 2 |} {{col-break|gap=1em}} {| |- align=center | style="width:30px; background:#faa; height:20px;"|initial | style="background:#afa; width:30px;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"|med.<br>2 |- align=center | style="background:#afa; height:20px;"|med. |- style="text-align:center; background:#aaf;" | colspan="2" style="height:20px;"|fin. 1 ||fin. 2 |} {{col-end}} Blocks are always written in phonetic order, initial-medial-final. Therefore: * Syllables with a horizontal medial are written downward: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|읍}} ''eup''; * Syllables with a vertical medial and simple final are written clockwise: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|쌍}} ''ssang''; * Syllables with a wrapping medial switch direction (down-right-down): {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|된}} ''doen''; * Syllables with a complex final are written left to right at the bottom: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|밟}} ''balp''. === Block shape === Normally the resulting block is written within a square of the same size and shape as a Hanja (Chinese character) by compressing or stretching the letters to fill the bounds of the block; therefore someone not familiar with the scripts may mistake the Korean alphabet for Hanja or Chinese. However, some recent fonts (for example Eun,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Korean.html|title=Korean Unicode Fonts|first=Craig|last=Welch|website=www.wazu.jp}}</ref> {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|HY깊은샘물M}}, UnJamo]) move towards the European practice of letters whose relative size is fixed, and use whitespace to fill letter positions not used in a particular block, and away from the East Asian tradition of square block characters ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|方块字}}). They break one or more of the traditional rules: * Do not stretch initial consonant vertically, but leave [[Space (punctuation)|white space]] below if no lower vowel and/or no final consonant. * Do not stretch right-hand vowel vertically, but leave white space below if no final consonant. (Often the right-hand vowel extends farther down than the left-hand consonant, like a [[descender]] in European typography) * Do not stretch final consonant horizontally, but leave white space to its left. * Do not stretch or pad each block to a [[fixed width]], but allow [[kerning]] (variable width) where syllable blocks with no right-hand vowel and no double final consonant can be narrower than blocks that do have a right-hand vowel or double final consonant. These fonts have been used as design accents on signs or headings, rather than for typesetting large volumes of body text. === Linear Korean === There was a minor and unsuccessful movement in the early twentieth century to abolish syllabic blocks and write the letters individually and in a row, in the fashion of writing [[Latin alphabet]] as in English and other European languages. e.g. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ}} for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|한글}} ''Hangeul.''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA162 |title=Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary - Keith L. Pratt, Richard Rutt, James Hoare - Google Boeken |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1999-09-13 |accessdate=2012-04-13}}</ref> It is called 풀어쓰기 (''pul-eo-sseu-gi'' 'unassembled writing'). Avant-garde typographer Ahn Sangsu made a font for the "Hangul Dada" exposition that exploded the syllable blocks; but while it strings out the letters horizontally, it retains the distinctive vertical position each letter would normally have within a block, unlike the century-old linear writing proposals.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ezer |first=Oded |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/oded_ezer/317881477/ |title=Hangul Dada, Seoul, Korea|publisher=Flickr |accessdate=2012-04-13}}</ref> Such an idea of writing Korean with Hangul jamo without being assembled into syllabic characters is of a historical interest only as it foregoes the most distinctive feature of the Hangul writing system, that is, the standard convention of 모아쓰기 (''mo-a-sseu-gi'' 'assembled writing'). ==Orthography== Until the 20th century, no official orthography of the Korean alphabet had been established. Due to liaison, heavy consonant assimilation, dialectal variants and other reasons, a Korean word can potentially be spelled in multiple ways. Sejong seemed to prefer [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic]] spelling (representing the underlying root forms) rather than a [[phoneme|phonemic]] one (representing the actual sounds). However, early in its history the Korean alphabet was dominated by phonemic spelling. Over the centuries the orthography became partially morphophonemic, first in nouns and later in verbs. The modern Korean alphabet is as morphophonemic as is practical. The difference between phonetic Romanization, phonemic orthography and morpho-phonemic orthography can be illustrated with the phrase ''motaneun sarami'': <!-- vv These transcriptions are correct; please see the talk page. vv --> {{unordered list |1= Phonetic transcription and translation: {{block indent|<poem>motaneun sarami {{IPA|[mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.ɾa.mi]}} ''a person who cannot do it''</poem>}} |2= Phonemic transcription: {{block indent|<poem>{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|모타는사라미}} {{IPA|/mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.la.mi/}}</poem>}} |3= Morphophonemic transcription: {{block indent|<poem>{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|못하는사람이}} {{IPA|{{!}}mot-ha-nɯn-sa.lam-i{{!}}}}</poem>}} |4= Morpheme-by-morpheme [[interlinear gloss|gloss]]: {{block indent|1=<nowiki/> {{(!}} {{!-}} {{!}}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{{!!}}{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|못–하–는}}{{!!}}{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|사람{{=}}이}} {{!-}} {{!}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{!!}}mot-ha-neun{{!!}}saram=i {{!-}} {{!}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{!!}}cannot-do-{{bracket|[[attributive verb|attributive]]}}{{!!}}person=[subject] {{!)}}}} }} <!-- ^^ These transcriptions are correct; please see the talk page. ^^ --> After the [[Gabo Reform]] in 1894, the [[Joseon Dynasty]] and later the [[Korean Empire]] started to write all official documents in the Korean alphabet. Under the government's management, proper usage of the Korean alphabet and Hanja, including orthography, was discussed, until the Korean Empire was [[Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty|annexed]] by Japan in 1910. The [[Government-General of Korea]] popularised a writing style that mixed Hanja and the Korean alphabet, and was used in the later Joseon dynasty. The government revised the spelling rules in 1912, 1921 and 1930, to be relatively phonemic. The [[Hangul Society]], founded by [[Ju Si-gyeong]], announced a proposal for a new, strongly morphophonemic orthography in 1933, which became the prototype of the contemporary orthographies in both North and South Korea. After Korea was divided, the North and South revised orthographies separately. The guiding text for orthography of the Korean alphabet is called ''Hangeul Matchumbeop'', whose last South Korean revision was published in 1988 by the Ministry of Education. === Mixed scripts === [[File:Gardena in mixed Latin-hangul.jpg|thumb|The U.S. city of [[Gardena, California|Gardena]] in the Korean alphabet, with the {{IPA|[ɡ]}} written as Latin {{angle bracket|G}}. (Compare this large {{angle bracket|G}} with the smaller {{angle bracket|G}} in all-Latin ''Gardena'' below: The large {{angle bracket|G}} is fused (at bottom-right) with the Korean alphabet {{angle bracket|{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}}} that would normally be used to transcribe ''Gardena''.)]] Since the Late Joseon dynasty period, various [[Korean mixed script|Hanja-Hangul mixed systems]] were used. In these systems, Hanja were used for lexical roots, and the Korean alphabet for grammatical words and inflections, much as ''kanji'' and ''kana'' are used in Japanese. Hanja have been almost entirely phased out of daily use in North Korea, and in South Korea they are mostly restricted to parenthetical glosses for proper names and for disambiguating homonyms. [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system|Indo-Arabic numerals]] are mixed in with the Korean alphabet, e.g. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|2007년 3월 22일}} (22 March 2007). [[Latin script]] and occasionally other scripts may be sprinkled within Korean texts for illustrative purposes, or for unassimilated [[loanword]]s. Very occasionally non-Hangul letters may be mixed into Korean syllabic blocks, as {{nobreak|{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|Gㅏ}}}} ''Ga'' at right. ==Readability== Because of syllable clustering, words are shorter on the page than their linear counterparts would be, and the boundaries between syllables are easily visible (which may aid reading, if segmenting words into syllables is more natural for the reader than dividing them into phonemes).<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1980|p=71}}</ref> Because the component parts of the syllable are relatively simple phonemic characters, the number of strokes per character on average is lower than in Chinese characters. Unlike syllabaries, such as Japanese kana, or Chinese logographs, none of which encode the constituent phonemes within a syllable, the graphic complexity of Korean syllabic blocks varies in direct proportion with the phonemic complexity of the syllable.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1980|p=73}}</ref> Unlike linear alphabets such as [[Latin-script alphabet|those derived from Latin]], Korean orthography allows the reader to "utilize both the horizontal and vertical visual fields".<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1980|p=70}}</ref> Finally, since Korean syllables are represented both as collections of phonemes and as unique-looking graphs, they may allow for both visual and aural retrieval of words from the [[lexicon]]. ==Style== [[File:Hangul TypeStyles sansPen.svg|150x150px|right]] The Korean alphabet may be written either vertically or horizontally. The traditional direction is from top to bottom, right to left. Horizontal writing in the style of the Latin script was promoted by [[Ju Si-gyeong]], and has become overwhelmingly prevalent. In ''[[Hunmin Jeongeum]]'', the Korean alphabet was printed in sans-serif angular lines of even thickness. This style is found in books published before about 1900, and can be found in stone carvings (on statues, for example). Over the centuries, an ink-brush style of [[calligraphy]] developed, employing the same style of lines and angles as traditional Korean calligraphy. This brush style is called ''gungche'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|궁체 宮體}}), which means "Palace Style" because the style was mostly developed and used by the maidservants (''gungnyeo,'' {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|궁녀 宮女}}) of the court in [[Joseon|Joseon dynasty]]. Modern styles that are more suited for printed media were developed in the 20th century. In 1993, new names for both [[Ming (typefaces)|Myeongjo]] ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|明朝}}) and [[East Asian gothic typeface|Gothic]] styles were introduced when Ministry of Culture initiated an effort to standardize typographic terms, and the names ''Batang'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|바탕}}, meaning "background") and ''Dotum'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|돋움}}, meaning "stand out") replaced Myeongjo and Gothic respectively. These names are also used in [[Microsoft Windows]]. A sans-serif style with lines of equal width is popular with pencil and pen writing and is often the default typeface of Web browsers. A minor advantage of this style is that it makes it easier to distinguish ''-eung'' from ''-ung'' even in small or untidy print, as the ''jongseong ieung'' ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}) of such fonts usually lacks a [[serif]] that could be mistaken for the short vertical line of the letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} ''(u)''. ==See also== {{Portal|Korea|Language}} * [[Hangul consonant and vowel tables]] * [[Hangul orthography]] * [[Korean phonology]] * [[Korean language and computers]] * [[Korean mixed script]] * [[Korean romanization]] ** [[McCune-Reischauer]] ** [[Revised Romanization]] ** [[Yale Romanization of Korean]] * [[Korean braille]] * [[Korean manual alphabet]] * [[Myongjo]] * [[Kuryan]] an Arabic script using for writing Hangul by Muslim in South Korea ==Notes== {{reflist|group=nb}} ==Citations== {{Reflist}} ==References== * {{Cite book | last=Chang | first=Suk-jin | title=Korean | location=Philadelphia | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company | year=1996 | isbn=1-55619-728-4 | chapter=Scripts and Sounds}} (Volume 4 of the ''London Oriental and African Language Library''). * {{Cite book|author=Hannas, William C |title=Asia's Orthographic Dilemma |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C |year=1997 |isbn=0-8248-1892-X }} * {{cite book |editor-last=Kim-Renaud |editor-first=Young-Key |title=The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nonRl2cerIgC |year=1997 |publisher=University of Hawai`i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1723-7 |ref=harv}} * {{cite book |first1=Iksop |last1=Lee |first2=Samuel Robert |last2=Ramsey |title=The Korean Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN-yIdLOkCoC |year=2000 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-9130-0 |ref=harv}} * {{cite web |title=Hangeul Matchumbeop |year=1988 |publisher=The Ministry of Education of South Korea |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/search/grammar/rule/collect_rule.html }} * {{cite book |isbn=978-0-8047-1756-4 |title=Writing Systems |first=Geoffrey |last=Sampson |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1990 |ref=Sampson}} * {{cite journal |last=Silva |first=David J. |title=Western attitudes toward the Korean language: An Overview of Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Mission Literature |journal=[[Korean Studies (journal)|Korean Studies]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=270–286 |year=2002 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/korean_studies/v026/26.2silva.pdf |format=PDF |doi=10.1353/ks.2004.0013}} * {{cite book |first=Ho-Min |last=Sohn |title=The Korean Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6gdJIOcoQC |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-36943-5 |series=Cambridge Language Surveys}} * {{cite book |first=Jae Jung |last=Song |title=The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3D36c9l_u0sC |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-39082-5}} * {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Insup |chapter=The Korean writing system: An alphabet? A syllabary? A logography? |editor1-first=P.A. |editor1-last=Kolers |editor2-first=M. E. |editor2-last=Wrolstad |editor3-first=Herman |editor3-last=Bouma |editor3-link=Herman Bouma |title=Processing of Visual Language |publisher=Plenum Press |location=New York |year=1980 |isbn=0306405768 |oclc=7099393 |volume=2 |ref=harv}} ==External links== {{Wiktionary|Appendix:List of modern Hangul syllabic blocks by strokes}} {{Commons category|Hangul}} * [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm Korean alphabet and pronunciation] by Omniglot * [http://www.langintro.com/kintro/toc.htm Online Hangul tutorial] at Langintro.com * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090827124705/http://www.sayjack.com/learn/korean/hangul Hangul table with Audio Slideshow] * [http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/var/korean_hangul_unicode.html Technical information on Hangul and Unicode] * [http://www.kmaru.com/kboard/kboard.maru Hangul Sound Keyboard] at Kmaru.com * [http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/Learn_hangeul Learn Hangul] at Korean Wiki Project {{Hangul Jamo}} {{Joseon}} {{List of writing systems}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Articles containing Korean-language text]] [[Category:Hangul]] [[Category:Korean inventions]] [[Category:Korean language]] [[Category:Korean writing system]] [[Category:National symbols of Korea]] [[Category:Scripts encoded in Unicode 1.0]] [[Category:Spelling reform]]'