Hangeul << hahn GHUL >> (also spelled Han’gul) is the native alphabet of the Korean language . It is spelled Hangeul in South Korea and means great writing. In North Korea , the alphabet is called Joseongeul (also spelled Chonsongul), which means Korean writing. Hangeul is a phonetic writing system developed during the 1440’s at the court of the Korean king Sejong , also known as King Sejong the Great (1397-1450). In a phonetic writing system, each symbol or letter represents a particular sound. Sejong created Hangeul to achieve wider literacy among the Korean people. Literacy is the ability to read and write. Hangeul has 24 basic letters.
Before the invention of the Korean alphabet, the Korean people had adapted Chinese characters called Hanja for writing in Korean. However, the Chinese characters were difficult to learn and were only taught to the elite. Thus, only a small portion of Korean society was literate. Furthermore, the Chinese language was very different from the Korean language in terms of grammar , word order, and sound. These differences made the process of writing Korean using Chinese characters unreliable and complicated.
Sejong sought a way to simplify the writing of Korean and make it easier to learn, as well as to better represent the sounds of spoken Korean. A court chronicle announced his invention of the Korean alphabet that became known as Hangeul during the lunar month that straddled the end of 1443 and the beginning of 1444. Sejong officially introduced his new writing system to the people in 1446 in the form of a two-part handbook. Both the writing system and the handbook were called Hunminjeongeum (also spelled Hunmin chongum). In English, the title is translated as “Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People.”
The handbook’s first part, also titled Hunminjeongeum, introduced 28 letters to represent the spoken Korean language. It also contained the pronunciations and rules for writing the new Korean letters, along with examples of their use. The second part was called Hunminjeongeum Haerye (also spelled Hunmin chongum haerye), which means “Explanations and Examples of the Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People.” Written by a group of court scholars, this document explained the principles behind the designs of the letters and pronunciations. For instance, the basic vowels were designed to represent the three basic elements of the universe—heaven, Earth, and a (standing) human being. Heaven was represented by a dot (·); Earth was represented by a horizontal line (ㅡ); and the human being was represented by a vertical line (ㅣ). The rest of the vowels and vowel sounds were a combination of these three main vowels. Later, the sound represented by the dot disappeared from the language. The letter, by then written as a short horizontal line, also disappeared from the alphabet, but the short line remained part of other vowel letters.
The five basic consonants k, n, m, s, and ng represented the shapes of the speech organs. For example: ㄱ(g, k) represents the root of the tongue blocking the throat; ㄴ(n) represents the tongue touching the teeth area; ㅁ(m) represents the shape of the mouth; ㅅ(s) represents the shape of an incisor (a tooth with a sharp cutting edge); and ㅇ(ng) represents the shape of the throat. The rest of the consonants were created from the five basic consonants by adding more strokes. For example, by adding more strokes to theㄴ(n) consonant, you get ㄷ(d, t) and ㅌ(t). All three consonants are produced from the same part of the speech organ.
Of the original 28 letters created by Sejong, 24 letters are still used today. These include 14 consonants (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ) and 10 vowels (ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ, ㅣ). Today, there are also 11 letters that represent compound vowels (ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ) and 5 letters (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ) that represent double consonants, for a total of 40 letters.
Hangeul letters are written in syllable blocks composed in three positions: (1) initial, which is written with a consonant; (2) medial, which is written with a vowel or a compound vowel; and (3) final, which is written with one or two consonants or left empty. For example, the syllable block한 han is composed with the initial consonant ㅎ(h), medial vowelㅏ(a), and final consonant ㄴ(n).
Korean was usually written in vertical lines from right to left until the 1980’s. Since then, Korean is mostly written horizontally from left to right. After Sejong introduced Hangeul, Koreans continued to write official and scholarly documents using Chinese characters until about the 1890’s. Today, South Koreans still use a limited number of Chinese characters, especially for words borrowed from Chinese. North Korea has officially forbidden the use of Chinese characters.
There are several systems for spelling Korean words in the Roman alphabet used by such languages as English. Each system uses a slightly different approach to express the sounds of the Korean language. In the three main systems used today, for example, the name of the Korean alphabet is spelled Han’gul in the McCune-Reischauer system, Hankul in the Yale system, and Hangeul in the Revised Romanization System adopted by the South Korean government in 2000.
Around 1912, a pioneering Korean linguist named Ju Sigyeong, also spelled Chu Si-gyong (1876-1914), coined the name Hangeul for the Korean alphabet. Linguists are scholars who study languages. Linguists consider the Korean alphabet to be one of the most efficient and scientific writing systems in the world. It is also regarded as one of the most unique cultural assets of the Korean people. In South Korea, October 9th is designated as “Hangeul Day,” a national holiday celebrating the invention of the Korean al phabet.
