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For other uses, see Hangul (disambiguation).

Korean alphabet
Hangul text. Top is the North Korean name, Chosŏn'gŭl, and bottom is the international and South Korean name, Hangul or Hangeul
Script type
Period
1443 or 1444 to present
Direction
Languages
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Hang (286), ​Hangul (Hangŭl, Hangeul) Jamo (284) (for the jamo subset)
Unicode
Unicode alias
Hangul
North Korean name
Hangul
조선글
Hanja
朝鮮글
RRJoseongeul
MRChosŏn'gŭl
IPA[tsʰo.sʰɔn.ɡɯɭ]
South Korean name
Hangul
한글
RRHangeul
MRHan'gŭl
IPA[ha(ː)n.ɡɯɭ] ⓘ
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. It is known as Chosŏn'gŭl[a] in North Korea, Hangul internationally, and Hangeul[b] in South Korea. The script's original name was Hunminjeongeum.[c]

Before Hangul's creation, Korea had been using Hanja (Chinese characters) since antiquity. As Hanja was poorly suited for representing the Korean language, and because its difficulty contributed to high illiteracy, Joseon king Sejong the Great (r. 1418–1450) moved to create Hangul. The script was announced around late 1443 to early 1444 and officially published in 1446 via the text Hunminjeongeum and its companion commentary Hunminjeongeum Haerye. While Hangul saw gradual adoption among both the elite and commoners, it was looked down upon by the elite for centuries. It was only widely adopted in the late 19th century. It is now the predominant script for Korean in both Koreas and among the Korean diaspora. It is also used to write the Jeju language, and to a limited degree, the Cia-Cia language of Indonesia.

Hangul orthography has changed over time and differs between North and South Korea. Modern Korean-language orthographies use 24[d] basic letters, which are called jamo. These 14 consonants and 10 vowels can be combined to yield 27 additional letters; a total of 51. They are arranged in syllable blocks consisting of an initial consonant, a vowel, and an optional final consonant. The syllables can be arranged in vertical or horizontal rows, although the latter practice has become dominant. Hangul punctuation is now largely similar to Western punctuation, with some differences. Spaces between words or phrases are a modern feature of Hangul.

Hangul letters were designed to be graphically simple, and traditionally consisted of only straight lines, dots, and circles. The shapes of 5 basic consonants are based on those of human speech organs. Most of the other basic consonants, which are considered to correspond to "harsher" sounds than those 5, are derived by adding additional lines to those letters to indicate progressively harsher sounds. There are a number of other hypothesized inspirations for the letter shapes, but these are still debated.

The script has received significant praise from international linguists and historians. It is now a significant point of pride for Korean people.

Names

[edit]
Main article: Names of the Korean alphabet

The Korean alphabet has been referred to by various names since its invention. Its original name was Hunminjeongeum (훈민정음; 訓民正音; Hunmin chŏngŭm; 'Correct Sounds for the Instruction of People').[1]

Internationally, the script goes by Hangul. This spelling has been adopted as a word in the English language[2] and is used by organizations like the International Organization for Standardization.[3] Hangul is an ad-hoc romanization of the South Korean name for the script; South Korea's preferred Revised Romanization system renders this as Hangeul (한글). The name means script of Han, where Han is one of the names of Korea.[4] The name appeared some time around the early 1910s.[5][6][7]

In North Korea, the name Hangul was briefly used until it was replaced by Chosŏn'gŭl in 1949. This is in part due to differing preferences for names of Korea: North Korea refers to the whole of Korea as Chosŏn, while South Korea uses Hanguk.[8]

The script also historically went by a variety of other names, including ŏnmun (언문; 諺文; lit. vernacular script),[9] panjŏl (반절; 反切),[10] and kungmun (국문; 國文; 'national script').[11]

Classifications

[edit]

Hangul is a phonographic script: a writing system where graphemes represent the sounds of a language. It is also an alphabet.[12] The script is often described as "syllabic" because of how its letters are grouped into syllables (see § Syllable blocks),[13][14] although linguist John DeFrancis is skeptical of this.[15] Several linguists have instead argued for calling it an "alphabetic syllabary", "syllabic alphabet", or "alpha-syllabary".[16][17] While Hangul was originally a more phonemic script (where spelling is strictly tied to pronunciation), modern Hangul is generally more morphophonemic (where some pronunciation changes are not reflected in spelling) (see Hangul orthography § Buncheol vs. yeoncheol debate).[18][19]

Hangul and mixed script are considered to have a property called ŏnmun ilch'i (언문일치; 言文一致; lit. spoken–written agreement): tight correspondence between pronunciation and text. By contrast, the Idu and Kugyŏl scripts for writing Korean do not have this property.[e][21][22] Pae, Winskel, and Kim argue this property was initially stronger but weakened over time due to changes in the language and script.[22]

Featural script

[edit]

Some scholars argue that Hangul is what is called a "featural script": a writing system where the shapes of the symbols encode phonological features of the spoken language they represent. The term was coined by Sampson in a 1985 book, wherein he argued Hangul was featural. This argument is largely based on the Haerye's explanations for the derivations of the letter shapes.[23][24][25][26]

In a 1989 book, DeFrancis praises Hangul but questions Sampson's classification of Hangul as featural. He argues that Hangul encodes too few features of Korean and that most people literate in Hangul do not actively learn or process the featural principles used to construct the shapes of the letters.[27] In a 1997 book, Chin-Woo Kim rebuts DeFrancis's argument. He argues that DeFrancis relies on a count of Korean's features that is too high, and that other scholars provide lower counts. He also argues that, even if one accepts that most do not learn or perceive Hangul's featural aspects, that does not mean such aspects do not exist. Kim also claims that scholars argue Hangul is not a featural script because it does not neatly abide by Jakobsonian distinctive features.[28] In the same book, linguist Young-Key Kim-Renaud argues against a featural label. She argues it should be considered that the derivation rules are applied to varying quality and that some symbols represent or contribute to multiple significantly different sounds. Kim-Renaud gives the example of the dot: the dot is used as a vowel (ㆍ) and a component in other vowels (e.g. two of them in ㅑ). When used as a component, it does not carry the meaning of the dot vowel.[29] Linguists Pae, Winskel, and Kim argue that the featural designation is difficult to falsify, debatable, and uncertain.[30] Linguist Dimitrios Meletis feels that the label is given too much attention, and that the stroke addition rule and philosophical concepts behind the letters are not purely featural.[31]

History

[edit]

Background

[edit]

Before the invention of Hangul, Korea had been using Hanja (Chinese characters) since antiquity. The difficulty of the script limited its use to mostly upper-class people; commoners were largely illiterate.[32] Hanja is not well suited for representing the Korean language; the Chinese and Korean languages are not closely related and differ in significant ways. For example, Classical Chinese uses subject–verb–object word order while Middle Korean uses subject–object–verb word order.[33] Korean pronunciation and ideas could only be indirectly represented.[34]

Origin

[edit]
Main article: Origin of Hangul
First page of the Hunminjeongeum, which formally introduced Hangul

Due to a lack of records, it is unknown when work on Hangul first began, nor what that process looked like.[35] Joseon king Sejong the Great (r. 1418–1450) was responsible for and significantly involved in Hangul's creation.[36][37] Hangul was first introduced, likely in a mostly complete form, to Sejong's court in the 12th month of 1443 of the Korean calendar (around December 30, 1443 to January 28, 1444 in the Gregorian calendar).[38] Work then began on applying the script and developing official documentation for it. Part of this effort resulted in the creation of Yongbiŏch'ŏn'ga, the first ever piece of Hangul literature.[39]

In the 9th month of 1446, Hangul was officially promulgated via the introductory texts Hunminjeongeum and Hunminjeongeum Haerye.[40] The Hunminjeongeum begins with this now famous preface by Sejong:[41]

The sounds of our country's language are different from those of the Middle Kingdom and are not confluent with the sounds of characters. Therefore, among the ignorant people, there have been many who, having something they want to put into words, have in the end been unable to express their feelings. I have been distressed because of this, and have newly designed twenty-eight letters, which I wish to have everyone practice at their ease and make convenient for their daily use.[42]

— Sejong the Great, Hunminjeongeum, preface

Critics of Hangul emerged soon after its introduction. They argued that a native Korean script was too far a departure from Chinese civilization, which they insisted Korea should be deferent to in a Confucian manner.[43] Modern historians have argued that elitism and self-interest were other motivators for the faction; literacy in Hanja was then seen as a status symbol and general literacy was seen as potentially harming the social positions of the elite.[44]

Spread

[edit]

While Sejong had attempted to spread Hangul throughout the government and society, his efforts had limited success.[45] Hangul was only rarely used during the 15th century; its use was largely centered in Seoul, among people close to the royal family and court.[46] It only began to spread outside of Seoul in the 16th century.[47] Women and Buddhists were significant early adopters of the script. While Hangul was rarely taught in traditional Confucianist curricula, it was often taught by women in the home.[48]

At least one Joseon king persecuted the use of Hangul; King Yeonsangun (r. 1495–1506) did so during the 1504 second literati purge [ko], after learning that criticisms of him had been written in Hangul.[49][50] In the 16th century, the government agency Bureau of Interpreters became a significant center for Hangul scholarship, with one of its members Ch'oe Sejin still being revered today for his lasting contributions to the script and Korean linguistics.[51][52][53]

Hangul orthography experienced significant changes in the script's early history. Around the time of Hangul's promulgation, an apparent dispute between whether to use a phonemic or morphophonemic orthography resulted in an apparent victory for the morphophonemic faction; among that faction was Sejong himself.[54][19][55][56] A number of letters gradually stopped seeing significant use by the late 16th century, including the base letters ㅿ and ㆆ.[57][58] By the 17th century, the letters ㅇ and ㆁ had merged into one.[59] Tone markings [ko] for Hangul stopped being used around the 16th century.[60][61][62] The chaotic 1592–1598 Imjin War caused significant disruption and inconsistencies to Hangul orthography that persisted and worsened even even into the late 19th century.[63]

Hangul popular literature and sijo poetry began to flourish around the 17th century.[64] The landmark novel Hong Gildong jeon was published around the beginning of the century.[65]

Enlightenment and Korean Empire periods

[edit]
Tongnip sinmun, the first modern Korean newspaper and the first to use pure Hangul

With the end of Korea's isolationism in the 1870s, an influx of foreign ideas arrived in Korea. Around this time, Hangul began to be seen as a symbol of national identity and pride. Various Hangul reform movements arose, with many persisting into the late 20th century. Collectively, these efforts are referred to as the Hangul Movement [ko].[66] Various issues became debated, such as whether to use Hangul only or mixed script,[67] whether to abandon the syllable block structure and write linearly,[68] and whether to write vertically or horizontally.[69]

This era saw numerous landmark firsts for Hangul. Scottish missionary John Ross's landmark 1877 work Corean Primer (조선어 첫걸음) saw the introduction of spaces and horizontal writing for Hangul.[69] In 1888, a Morse code specification for Hangul was developed for the first time by Korean scholar Kim Hagu [ko].[70] In 1897, the first Braille encoding for Hangul, called Pyongyang Point (평양점자), was invented by Canadian missionary Rosetta Sherwood Hall.[71] This period also saw the rise of newspapers in Korea. In 1886, the Hansŏng chubo became the first Korean newspaper to use mixed script.[72] In 1896, The Independent, one of the earliest independent modern Korean newspapers, was established. It was written in pure Hangul.[73][72]

On November 21, 1894, the Joseon government decreed pure Hangul to be the country's preferred script for administrative documents, although mixed script was also allowed.[74][75] This edict was apparently enforced to varying degrees, as exclusive Hangul was rare in many documents even until the beginning of the colonial period.[76][77] Joseon was succeeded by the Korean Empire in 1897. On July 19, 1905, the Korean Empire approved the first official orthography for Hangul: the New Edition of National Writing (신정국문; 新訂國文).[78] Ultimately, this orthography proved controversial and was not put into significant practice.[79][80]

Colonial period

[edit]
Cover of a revision of the Unified Hangul Orthography [ko]

In 1910, Korea was colonized by the Empire of Japan. The Korean language and script saw varying degrees of repression during the colonial period.[81] After the 1919 March First Movement protests, the Japanese colonial government eased suppression of Korean culture in a phenomenon now dubbed cultural rule [ja; ko]. Hangul use and reform significantly expanded as a result.[82]

This period saw significant orthographic reform efforts. The colonial Government-General of Chōsen published the first Hangul orthography to be put in common practice in 1912 (revised in 1921 and 1930).[83] The Korean Language Society (KLS) published its landmark 1933 Unified Hangul Orthography [ko] (UHO). The orthographies of both North and South Korea are currently based on this one.[84][85] These orthographies ended the use of the vowel ㆍ, although that vowel's sound had long since disappeared from the language.[83][86] The KLS also established Hangul Day in 1926.[87] With the rise of the Second Sino-Japanese War, colonial repression of Hangul and the Korean language increased. The KLS was arrested en masse and tortured beginning in 1942. Hangul reform activity significantly slowed until the 1945 liberation.[88]

The Korean diaspora also participated in significant Hangul reform efforts. Koryo-saram (Koreans of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union) published a number of orthographic reforms,[89] although their use of Hangul declined especially after they were subjected to a 1937 forced migration.[90] The first Hangul typewriter was invented in 1913 by Korean-American Wonic Leigh (이원익; Yi Wŏnik).[91]

Liberation and division

[edit]

1945 saw the liberation of Korea from colonial rule, as well as its division. Soon after the liberation, use of Hangul began to diverge between the Koreas. Both Koreas continued orthographic reform efforts. North Korea's current Compendium of Korean Language Norms [ko] was published in 1966 and revised a number of times.[92] South Korea's Hangeul Orthography was published in 1989.[93]

Both North and South Korea pushed to increase literacy, which had remained low during the colonial period. Within a decade, a significant majority of Koreans in both Koreas became literate in at least Hangul.[94][95] They also pushed to eliminate Hanja from writing. North Korea eliminated Hanja in 1949, although it continued to be used and taught thereafter.[96] South Korea oscillated between the elimination and preservation of Hanja for decades thereafter.[96]

The 1960s saw the rise of computers in Korea and the computerization of Hangul.[97] Computerization efforts lacked a standard until 1974, when KS C 5601 (predecessor to the current KS X 1001) was published.[97] In 1995, South Korea adopted ISO 10646-1, the Universal Coded Character Set, as its standard, in KS C 5700.[98][99]

Use for non-Korean languages

[edit]

Systems that employed Hangul letters with modified rules were attempted by linguists such as Hsu Tsao-te [zh] and Ang Ui-jin to transcribe Taiwanese Hokkien, a Sinitic language, but the usage of Chinese characters ultimately ended up being the most practical solution and was endorsed by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan.[100][101][102]

The Hunminjeong'eum Society in Seoul attempted to spread the use of Hangul to unwritten languages of Asia.[103] In 2009, it was unofficially adopted by the town of Baubau, in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, to write the Cia-Cia language.[104][105][106][107]

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.[108]

Letters

[edit]
See also: Hangul consonant and vowel tables

Letters in the Korean alphabet are called jamo (자모; 字母).[109] They are designed to be graphically simple; all the letters can be drawn using straight lines, dots, or circles.[110] Hangul letters generally have more consistent pronunciations than those of other scripts.[111]

Letter counts

[edit]

In the modern form of Hangul, there are 24 basic jamo: 14 basic consonants (자음; 子音; jaeum; 'child sound'[112]) and 10 basic vowels (모음; 母音; moeum; 'mother sound'[113]).[109][114] The basic letters can be modified and combined to yield 51 jamo in total. Duplications result in 5 additional consonants (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ), and modifications and combinations result in 11 additional vowels (ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ)[115] and 11 additional heterogeneous consonant digraphs (ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄶ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅀ, ㅄ).[f] South Korea considers Hangul to have 24 letters (only counting basic letters) and North Korea 40 (not counting 11 heterogeneous consonant digraphs).[117][118][119]

Rather than use different shapes for initial and final consonants representing the same sounds, Hangul uses the same consonants. Some consonants are not typically used as final consonants, however.[120]

Consonants

[edit]

Below are the Hangul consonants. They have different pronunciations as well as transcriptions in Revised Romanization depending on whether they are in the initial or final part of a syllable block.

Hangul consonants[121][122][123]
Hangul ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Initial RR g kk n d tt r m b pp s ss [A] j jj ch k t p h
IPA[citation needed] /k/ /k͈/ /n/ /t/ /t͈/ /ɾ/ /m/ /p/ /p͈/ /s/ /s͈/ /∅/ /t͡ɕ/ /t͈͡ɕ͈/ /t͡ɕʰ/ /kʰ/ /tʰ/ /pʰ/ /h/
Final RR k k n t [B] l m p [B] t t ng t [B] t k t p t
IPA[citation needed] /k̚/ /n/ /t̚/ /ɭ/ /m/ /p̚/ /t̚/ /ŋ/ /t̚/ /t̚/ /k̚/ /t̚/ /p̚/ /t̚/
  1. ^ ㅇ, when used as an initial consonant, is silent. It is used as a placeholder. In RR, it is typically not transcribed. In the reversible variant of RR, it is transcribed as a hyphen ("-").[123]
  2. ^ a b c This letter is not used as a final.

The consonants are broadly categorized into two categories:[124]

  • obstruents: sounds produced when airflow either completely stops (i.e., a plosive consonant) or passes through a narrow opening (i.e., a fricative).
  • sonorants: sounds produced when air flows out with little to no obstruction through the mouth, nose, or both.
Consonants in Standard Korean (orthography)[125][citation needed]
Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo-palatal Velar Glottal
Obstruent Plosive Lax p (ㅂ) t (ㄷ) k (ㄱ)
Tense p͈ (ㅃ) t͈ (ㄸ) k͈ (ㄲ)
Aspirated pʰ (ㅍ) tʰ (ㅌ) kʰ (ㅋ)
Fricative Lax s (ㅅ) h (ㅎ)
Tense s͈ (ㅆ)
Affricate Lax t͡ɕ (ㅈ)
Tense t͈͡ɕ͈ (ㅉ)
Aspirated t͡ɕʰ (ㅊ)
Sonorant Nasal m (ㅁ) n (ㄴ) ŋ (ㅇ)
Liquid l (ㄹ)

Vowels

[edit]
Hangul vowels
Hangul ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
RR[123] a ae ya yae eo e yeo ye o wa wae oe yo u wo we wi yu eu ui i
IPA[citation needed][A] /a/ /ɛ/[B] /ja/ /jɛ/[B] /ʌ/ /e/[B] /jʌ/ /je/[B] /o/ /wa/ /wɛ/ /ø/[C] /jo/ /u/ /wʌ/ /we/ /y/[D] /ju/ /ɯ/ /ɰi/ /i/
  1. ^ IPA values here are for traditional Standard Korean (Seoul dialect). Practical current Standard South Korean has diverged from these practices.[126]
  2. ^ a b c d Recent speakers pronounce both ㅐ and ㅔ as /ɛ/ and ㅒ and ㅖ as /jɛ/.[127]
  3. ^ Recent speakers pronounce ㅚ, ㅞ, and ㅙ as /wɛ/.[128]
  4. ^ ㅟ is now commonly pronounced /wi/.[129]

Even though vowel length has been a feature of many historical and current dialects of Korean since the invention of Hangul, mainstream forms of Hangul have never indicated vowel length. Similar is true for many other scripts for languages with vowel length.[130]

Letter names

[edit]
Main article: Hangul letter names

The names of the consonants have varied across time and now between North and South Korea.[131] South Korea uses consonant letter names that were decided in the 1933 Unified Hangul Orthography [ko], which were in turn based on letter names used since the 16th century.[132][133] North Korea's consonant letter names have been regularized to follow a ㅣ으 spelling pattern. For example, while South Korea follows the traditional spelling of ㄱ's name, giyeok (기역), North Korea uses gieuk (기윽; kiŭk). In addition, North Korea uses toen (된; lit. hard, referring to the harder pronunciation) instead of ssang (쌍; 雙; lit. double, referring to letter shapes) for the duplicated consonants (e.g. the name of ㄲ is 된기윽; toen'giŭk).[8][134][135] One reason for doing this was that ssang is a Sino-Korean word, which North Korea sometimes discourages in favor of native Korean vocabulary.[8]

Since at latest the 16th century, vowels have been consistently named after the sound they produce, for example ㅑ is named ya.[136][137][135]

Alphabetic order

[edit]
Main article: Hangul alphabetical order

The ordering of the letters has varied across time and now between North and South Korea.

The 11,172 characters in the Hangul Syllables Unicode character block follow a sort order specified in the South Korean national standard KS X 1026-1 [ko]. That order accounts for the various Hangul Unicode code points, including obsolete letters.[138]

North Korean order

[edit]

North Korea uses the following orders:

Initial consonants: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ[g]
Vowels: ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ[140]
Final consonants: ∅ 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[144][139]

Modifications and combinations of initial consonants and vowels are placed at the end of the order. Final consonants follow the same order as initial, but combinations of consonants are inserted into that order and are sorted by the second consonant.[145]

South Korean order

[edit]

South Korea uses the following orders:[146][147]

Initial consonants: ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Vowels: ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
Final consonants: ∅ 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

Modifications and combinations of letters are placed just after the primary or initial parent letter. Such modifications and combinations are then sorted according to the previously established orderings. E.g. ㄱ is followed by ㄲ and ㅘ by ㅙ.[145]

Stroke order

[edit]

Letters in the Korean alphabet have adopted certain rules of Chinese calligraphy, although ㅇ and ㅎ use a circle, which is not used in printed Chinese characters.[148][149]

  • ㄱ (giyeok 기역)
    ㄱ (giyeok 기역)
  • ㄴ (nieun 니은)
    ㄴ (nieun 니은)
  • ㄷ (digeut 디귿)
    ㄷ (digeut 디귿)
  • ㄹ (rieul 리을)
    ㄹ (rieul 리을)
  • ㅁ (mieum 미음)
    ㅁ (mieum 미음)
  • ㅂ (bieup 비읍)
    ㅂ (bieup 비읍)
  • ㅅ (siot 시옷)
    ㅅ (siot 시옷)
  • ㅇ (ieung 이응)
    ㅇ (ieung 이응)
  • ㅈ (jieut 지읒)
    ㅈ (jieut 지읒)
  • ㅊ (chieut 치읓)
    ㅊ (chieut 치읓)
  • ㅋ (ḳieuk 키읔)
    ㅋ (ḳieuk 키읔)
  • ㅌ (ṭieut 티읕)
    ㅌ (ṭieut 티읕)
  • ㅍ (p̣ieup 피읖)
    ㅍ (p̣ieup 피읖)
  • ㅎ (hieut 히읗)
    ㅎ (hieut 히읗)
  • ㅏ (a)
    ㅏ (a)
  • ㅐ (ae)
    ㅐ (ae)
  • ㅓ (eo)
    ㅓ (eo)
  • ㅔ (e)
    ㅔ (e)
  • ㅗ (o)
    ㅗ (o)
  • ㅜ (u)
    ㅜ (u)
  • ㅡ (eu)
    ㅡ (eu)
  • ㅣ (i)
    ㅣ (i)

For the iotated vowels, which are not shown, the short stroke is simply doubled.

Orthography

[edit]

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 morphophonemic spelling (representing the underlying root forms) rather than a 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 morphophonemic orthography can be illustrated with the phrase motaneun sarami:

  • Phonetic transcription and translation:

    motaneun sarami
    [mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.ɾa.mi]
    a person who cannot do it

  • Phonemic transcription:

    모타는사라미
    /mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.la.mi/

  • Morphophonemic transcription:

    못하는사람이
    |mot-ha-nɯn-sa.lam-i|

  • Morpheme-by-morpheme gloss:
          못–하–는 사람=이
       mot-ha-neun saram=i
       cannot-do-[attributive] person=[subject]

After the Kabo Reform in 1894, Joseon 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 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 with Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing for Normal Schools [] (普通學校用諺文綴字法), 1921 with Summary of Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing for Normal Schools (普通學校用諺文綴字法大要), and again in 1930 with Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing (諺文綴字法), to be relatively phonemic.[150]

The Hangul Society, founded by Ju Si-gyeong, announced a proposal for a new, strongly morphophonemic orthography in 1933, titled Proposal for a Unified Hangul Orthography [ko] (한글 맞춤법 통일안),[151] which became the prototype of the contemporary orthographies in both North and South Korea.[how?] After Korea was divided, the North and South revised orthographies separately. The guiding text for orthography of the Korean alphabet is called Hangeul Matchumbeop (Spelling System of Hangul/The Rules of Korean Spelling), whose last South Korean enactment was published in 1988 by the Ministry of Education and whose last revision was published in 2017 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.[152]

Mixed scripts

[edit]

Since the late Joseon period, various 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.

Indo-Arabic numerals are mixed in with the Korean alphabet, e.g. Korean: 2007년 3월 22일; Hanja: 2007年 3月 22日; lit. 22 March 2007.

Morpho-syllabic blocks

[edit]

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 syllabic or morphemic blocks of at least two and often three: a consonant or a doubled consonant called the initial (초성; 初聲; choseong syllable onset), a vowel or diphthong called the medial (중성; 中聲; jungseong syllable nucleus), and, optionally, a consonant or consonant cluster at the end of the syllable, called the final (종성; 終聲; jongseong syllable coda). When a syllable has no actual initial consonant, the null initial 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, ㅇ ng only occurs in final position, while the doubled letters that can occur in final position are limited to ㅆ ss and ㄲ kk.

Not including obsolete letters, 11,172 blocks are possible in the Korean alphabet.[153]

Letter placement within a block

[edit]

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 ㅄ bs, ㅝ wo, or obsolete ㅵ bsd, 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 ㅡ eu, then it is written under the initial; if it has a vertical axis like ㅣ i, then it is written to the right of the initial; and if it combines both orientations, like ㅢ ui, then it wraps around the initial from the bottom to the right:

A final consonant, if present, is always written at the bottom, under the vowel. This is called 받침 batchim "supporting floor":

A complex final is written left to right:

Blocks are always written in phonetic order, initial-medial-final. Therefore:

  • Syllables with a horizontal medial are written downward: 읍 eup;
  • Syllables with a vertical medial and simple final are written clockwise: 쌍 ssang;
  • Syllables with a wrapping medial switch direction (down-right-down): 된 doen;
  • Syllables with a complex final are written left to right at the bottom: 밟 balp.

Block shape

[edit]

Normally the resulting block is written within a square. Some recent fonts (for example Eun,[154] HY깊은샘물M,[citation needed] and UnJamo[citation needed]) 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 (方块字). They break one or more of the traditional rules:[clarification needed]

  • Do not stretch the initial consonant vertically, but leave whitespace below if no lower vowel or no final consonant.
  • Do not stretch right-hand vowel vertically, but leave whitespace 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 the final consonant horizontally, but leave whitespace 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.

In Korean, typefaces that do not have a fixed block boundary size are called 탈네모 글꼴 (tallemo geulkkol, 'out of square typeface'). If horizontal text in the typeface ends up looking top-aligned with a ragged bottom edge, the typeface can be called 빨랫줄 글꼴 (ppallaetjul geulkkol, 'clothesline typeface').[citation needed]

These fonts have been used as design accents on signs or headings, rather than for typesetting large volumes of body text.

Linear Korean

[edit]
Hangul text in a serif linear font that resembles Latin or Cyrillic letters.
Computer Modern Unicode Oesol, a linear Hangul font with both uppercase and lowercase characters, using the Unicode Private Use Area. The text is a pangram that reads: "웬 초콜릿? 제가 원했던 건 뻥튀기 쬐끔과 의류예요." "얘야, 왜 또 불평?"

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 the Latin alphabets, instead of the standard convention of 모아쓰기 (moa-sseugi 'assembled writing'). For example, ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ would be written for 한글 (Hangeul).[155] It is called 풀어쓰기 (pureo-sseugi 'unassembled writing').

Avant-garde typographer Ahn Sang-soo created a font for the Hangul Dada exposition that disassembled 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 older linear writing proposals.[156]

Readability

[edit]

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).[157] 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.[157] Like Japanese kana or Chinese characters, and unlike linear alphabets such as those derived from Latin, Korean orthography allows the reader to utilize both the horizontal and vertical visual fields.[157] 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. Similar syllabic blocks, when written in small size, can be hard to distinguish from, and therefore sometimes confused with, each other. Examples include 홋/훗/흣 (hot/hut/heut), 퀼/퀄 (kwil/kwol), 홍/흥 (hong/heung), and 핥/핣/핢 (halt/halp/halm).

Style

[edit]

In Hunminjeongeum, 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).[158] 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 (궁체; 宮體), meaning "palace style", because the style was mostly developed and used by the maidservants (궁녀; 宮女; gungnyeo) of the Joseon court.[159]

Modern styles that are more suited for printed media were developed in the 20th century. In 1993, new names for both Myeongjo (明朝) and Gothic styles were introduced when Ministry of Culture initiated an effort to standardize typographic terms, and the names Batang (바탕, meaning background) and Dotum (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 (ㅇ) of such fonts usually lacks a serif that could be mistaken for the short vertical line of the letter ㅜ.[160]

Unicode

[edit]
See also: List of Hangul jamo
Main articles: Hangul Syllables, Hangul Jamo (Unicode block), Hangul Jamo Extended-A, Hangul Jamo Extended-B, Hangul Compatibility Jamo, Enclosed CJK Letters and Months, and Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms (Unicode block)
Hangul jamo characters in Unicode
Hangul Compatibility Jamo block in Unicode

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. A separate Hangul Syllables block (not shown below due to its length) contains pre-composed syllable block characters, which were first added at the same time, although they were relocated to their present locations in July 1996 with the release of version 2.0.[161]

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.

Hangul Jamo[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+110x ᄀ ᄁ ᄂ ᄃ ᄄ ᄅ ᄆ ᄇ ᄈ ᄉ ᄊ ᄋ ᄌ ᄍ ᄎ ᄏ
U+111x ᄐ ᄑ ᄒ ᄓ ᄔ ᄕ ᄖ ᄗ ᄘ ᄙ ᄚ ᄛ ᄜ ᄝ ᄞ ᄟ
U+112x ᄠ ᄡ ᄢ ᄣ ᄤ ᄥ ᄦ ᄧ ᄨ ᄩ ᄪ ᄫ ᄬ ᄭ ᄮ ᄯ
U+113x ᄰ ᄱ ᄲ ᄳ ᄴ ᄵ ᄶ ᄷ ᄸ ᄹ ᄺ ᄻ ᄼ ᄽ ᄾ ᄿ
U+114x ᅀ ᅁ ᅂ ᅃ ᅄ ᅅ ᅆ ᅇ ᅈ ᅉ ᅊ ᅋ ᅌ ᅍ ᅎ ᅏ
U+115x ᅐ ᅑ ᅒ ᅓ ᅔ ᅕ ᅖ ᅗ ᅘ ᅙ ᅚ ᅛ ᅜ ᅝ ᅞ  HC 
F
U+116x  HJ 
F 		ᅡ ᅢ ᅣ ᅤ ᅥ ᅦ ᅧ ᅨ ᅩ ᅪ ᅫ ᅬ ᅭ ᅮ ᅯ
U+117x ᅰ ᅱ ᅲ ᅳ ᅴ ᅵ ᅶ ᅷ ᅸ ᅹ ᅺ ᅻ ᅼ ᅽ ᅾ ᅿ
U+118x ᆀ ᆁ ᆂ ᆃ ᆄ ᆅ ᆆ ᆇ ᆈ ᆉ ᆊ ᆋ ᆌ ᆍ ᆎ ᆏ
U+119x ᆐ ᆑ ᆒ ᆓ ᆔ ᆕ ᆖ ᆗ ᆘ ᆙ ᆚ ᆛ ᆜ ᆝ ᆞ ᆟ
U+11Ax ᆠ ᆡ ᆢ ᆣ ᆤ ᆥ ᆦ ᆧ ᆨ ᆩ ᆪ ᆫ ᆬ ᆭ ᆮ ᆯ
U+11Bx ᆰ ᆱ ᆲ ᆳ ᆴ ᆵ ᆶ ᆷ ᆸ ᆹ ᆺ ᆻ ᆼ ᆽ ᆾ ᆿ
U+11Cx ᇀ ᇁ ᇂ ᇃ ᇄ ᇅ ᇆ ᇇ ᇈ ᇉ ᇊ ᇋ ᇌ ᇍ ᇎ ᇏ
U+11Dx ᇐ ᇑ ᇒ ᇓ ᇔ ᇕ ᇖ ᇗ ᇘ ᇙ ᇚ ᇛ ᇜ ᇝ ᇞ ᇟ
U+11Ex ᇠ ᇡ ᇢ ᇣ ᇤ ᇥ ᇦ ᇧ ᇨ ᇩ ᇪ ᇫ ᇬ ᇭ ᇮ ᇯ
U+11Fx ᇰ ᇱ ᇲ ᇳ ᇴ ᇵ ᇶ ᇷ ᇸ ᇹ ᇺ ᇻ ᇼ ᇽ ᇾ ᇿ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2. ᄀ: Hangul jamo with a green background are modern-usage characters which can be converted into precomposed Hangul syllables under Unicode normalization form NFC.
Hangul jamo with a white background are used for archaic Korean only, and there are no corresponding precomposed Hangul syllables.
"Conjoining Jamo Behavior" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. March 2020.
Hangul Jamo Extended-A[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+A96x ꥠ ꥡ ꥢ ꥣ ꥤ ꥥ ꥦ ꥧ ꥨ ꥩ ꥪ ꥫ ꥬ ꥭ ꥮ ꥯ
U+A97x ꥰ ꥱ ꥲ ꥳ ꥴ ꥵ ꥶ ꥷ ꥸ ꥹ ꥺ ꥻ ꥼ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Hangul Jamo Extended-B[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+D7Bx ힰ ힱ ힲ ힳ ힴ ힵ ힶ ힷ ힸ ힹ ힺ ힻ ힼ ힽ ힾ ힿ
U+D7Cx ퟀ ퟁ ퟂ ퟃ ퟄ ퟅ ퟆ ퟋ ퟌ ퟍ ퟎ ퟏ
U+D7Dx ퟐ ퟑ ퟒ ퟓ ퟔ ퟕ ퟖ ퟗ ퟘ ퟙ ퟚ ퟛ ퟜ ퟝ ퟞ ퟟ
U+D7Ex ퟠ ퟡ ퟢ ퟣ ퟤ ퟥ ퟦ ퟧ ퟨ ퟩ ퟪ ퟫ ퟬ ퟭ ퟮ ퟯ
U+D7Fx ퟰ ퟱ ퟲ ퟳ ퟴ ퟵ ퟶ ퟷ ퟸ ퟹ ퟺ ퟻ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Hangul Compatibility Jamo[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+313x ㄱ ㄲ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ
U+314x ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅄ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㅏ
U+315x ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ
U+316x ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ   HF   ㅥ ㅦ ㅧ ㅨ ㅩ ㅪ ㅫ ㅬ ㅭ ㅮ ㅯ
U+317x ㅰ ㅱ ㅲ ㅳ ㅴ ㅵ ㅶ ㅷ ㅸ ㅹ ㅺ ㅻ ㅼ ㅽ ㅾ ㅿ
U+318x ㆀ ㆁ ㆂ ㆃ ㆄ ㆅ ㆆ ㆇ ㆈ ㆉ ㆊ ㆋ ㆌ ㆍ ㆎ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Enclosed Hangul characters in Unicode

Parenthesised (U+3200–U+321E) and circled (U+3260–U+327E) Hangul compatibility characters are in the Enclosed CJK Letters and Months block:

Hangul subset of Enclosed CJK Letters and Months[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+320x ㈀ ㈁ ㈂ ㈃ ㈄ ㈅ ㈆ ㈇ ㈈ ㈉ ㈊ ㈋ ㈌ ㈍ ㈎ ㈏
U+321x ㈐ ㈑ ㈒ ㈓ ㈔ ㈕ ㈖ ㈗ ㈘ ㈙ ㈚ ㈛ ㈜ ㈝ ㈞
... (U+3220–U+325F omitted)
U+326x ㉠ ㉡ ㉢ ㉣ ㉤ ㉥ ㉦ ㉧ ㉨ ㉩ ㉪ ㉫ ㉬ ㉭ ㉮ ㉯
U+327x ㉰ ㉱ ㉲ ㉳ ㉴ ㉵ ㉶ ㉷ ㉸ ㉹ ㉺ ㉻ ㉼ ㉽ ㉾
... (U+3280–U+32FF omitted)
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey area indicates non-assigned code point
Halfwidth Hangul jamo characters in Unicode

Half-width Hangul compatibility characters (U+FFA0–U+FFDC) are in the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block:

Hangul subset of Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
... (U+FF00–U+FF9F omitted)
U+FFAx  HW 
HF 		ﾡ ﾢ ﾣ ﾤ ﾥ ﾦ ﾧ ﾨ ﾩ ﾪ ﾫ ﾬ ﾭ ﾮ ﾯ
U+FFBx ﾰ ﾱ ﾲ ﾳ ﾴ ﾵ ﾶ ﾷ ﾸ ﾹ ﾺ ﾻ ﾼ ﾽ ﾾ
U+FFCx ￂ ￃ ￄ ￅ ￆ ￇ ￊ ￋ ￌ ￍ ￎ ￏ
U+FFDx ￒ ￓ ￔ ￕ ￖ ￗ ￚ ￛ ￜ
... (U+FFE0–U+FFEF omitted)
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

The Korean alphabet in other Unicode blocks:

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Korean: 조선글; pronounced [tsʰo.sʰɔn.ɡɯɭ]
  2. ^ 한글; English: /ˈhɑːnɡuːl/ ⓘ HAHN-gool
  3. ^ 훈민정음; 訓民正音
  4. ^ 24 is the letter count used by international and South Korean scholars. North Korea considers the alphabet to have 40 letters, although both Koreas use the same set of letters. See § Letter counts.
  5. ^ Idu and Kugyŏl sometimes match single Chinese characters to multisyllabic Korean words.[20]
  6. ^ In general, horizontal consonant clusters are called byeongseo (병서; 竝書). Digraphs that are composed of duplicate consonants (e.g. ㄲ) are called gakjabyeongseo (각자병서; 各自並書). Clusters where the consonants differ are called habyongbyeongseo (합용병서; 合用竝書).[116]
  7. ^ The initial ㅇ is introduced in North Korea's official Compendium of Korean Language Norms [ko] after ㅅ.[139] Some non–North Korean scholarly sources also use that ordering.[140][141] This ordering places ㅇ at the end because, when it is an initial, it does not produce its own sound.[8][142] In 1999, North Korea submitted a proposal to Unicode and ISO (that was eventually rejected) that places ㅇ at the end of the order for initial consonants.[143]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 홍윤표 2019, pp. 63–64.
  2. ^ "Hangul". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  3. ^ "ISO 15924 Code Lists: Codes for the representation of names of scripts". Unicode. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  4. ^ Cho & Whitman 2019, p. 30.
  5. ^ 홍윤표 2019, pp. 38, 68.
  6. ^ 김, 민수, "한글모죽보기", 한국민족문화대백과사전 [Encyclopedia of Korean Culture] (in Korean), Academy of Korean Studies, retrieved 2 October 2025
  7. ^ 홍윤표 2019, pp. 38–39.
  8. ^ a b c d 홍윤표 (June 2018). "한글 사용에 남북한은 어떠한 차이가 있을까?" [What differences are there in the use of Hangul between North and South Korea?]. 한박웃음 (in Korean). No. 59. National Hangeul Museum. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  9. ^ Kim-Renaud 2000, pp. 17–18; Pratt 2007, p. 122; Ramsey 1992, p. 44; Song 2006, pp. 47–48.
  10. ^ 홍윤표 2019, pp. 66–67.
  11. ^ 홍윤표 2019, p. 67.
  12. ^ Sampson 1985, p. 120.
  13. ^ Lee & Ramsey 2011, p. 122.
  14. ^ Kim 1997, p. 152.
  15. ^ DeFrancis 1989, p. 192.
  16. ^ Pae 2011, pp. 104, 114.
  17. ^ Taylor & Taylor 2014, p. 198.
  18. ^ DeFrancis 1989, pp. 193–194.
  19. ^ a b Lee 1997, pp. 19–23.
  20. ^ Ahn 2018, p. 251.
  21. ^ Ahn 2018, p. 252.
  22. ^ a b Pae, Winskel & Kim 2025a, p. 37.
  23. ^ Sampson 1985, pp. 40–42.
  24. ^ Park 2015, p. 22.
  25. ^ Cho & Whitman 2019, pp. 31–32.
  26. ^ Meletis 2025, p. 524.
  27. ^ DeFrancis 1989, pp. 196–198.
  28. ^ Kim 1997, pp. 145, 148–150.
  29. ^ Kim-Renaud 1997b, p. 184.
  30. ^ Pae, Winskel & Kim 2025a, pp. 33–35.
  31. ^ Meletis 2025, pp. 524–525.
  32. ^ Sohn 2001, p. 122; Oh 2013, pp. 140–141; Haarmann 1993, pp. 144–145.
  33. ^ Wang 2023, pp. 70–71; Haarmann 1993, p. 145; Kim-Renaud 2000, p. 18.
  34. ^ Lee & Ramsey 2011, pp. 1–2; Kim 2005, pp. 3, 7–9; Oh 2013, pp. 140–142.
  35. ^ Ledyard 1990, p. 13.
  36. ^ Lee 2009, p. 14.
  37. ^ Ahn 2004, p. 6.
  38. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 85, 134–136; Yoo 2006, p. 32.
  39. ^ Paek 2011, p. 3.
  40. ^ Kang 2006a, p. 231; Ledyard 1998, pp. 161–162; Ramsey 1992, pp. 44–45.
  41. ^ Ledyard 1998, p. 170; Wang 2014, p. 60; Kim-Renaud 2000, p. 17.
  42. ^ Ledyard 1998, p. 170; Kim 2000, p. 7; Kim-Renaud 2000, p. 17.
  43. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 150–151; Wang 2014, p. 60; Yoo 2006, p. 26.
  44. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 150–152; Haarmann 1993, pp. 152–154; Song 2006, pp. 47–48.
  45. ^ Ledyard 1998, p. 379; Yoo 2006, p. 33.
  46. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 379–380.
  47. ^ Ahn 2018, pp. 253–256.
  48. ^ Paek 2011, pp. 20–21.
  49. ^ Park 2015, pp. 82–83.
  50. ^ Kim 2005, p. 135.
  51. ^ Lee & Ramsey 2011, pp. 111–112.
  52. ^ Ahn 2018, p. 219.
  53. ^ Cho & Whitman 2019, pp. 48–49.
  54. ^ Kim 2005, pp. 27–30.
  55. ^ Kim-Renaud 1997b, pp. 179–180.
  56. ^ Ahn 2018, pp. 282–289.
  57. ^ Lee & Ramsey 2011, p. 142.
  58. ^ Ledyard 1998, p. 231.
  59. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 213–214, 245–246; Lee 1997b, pp. 110–111; Sampson 1985, pp. 127–128.
  60. ^ Ledyard 1998, pp. 255–256.
  61. ^ Kim-Renaud 1997b, p. 176.
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Sources

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  • Media related to Hangul at Wikimedia Commons
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