Understanding Korea materials - Hangeul: Appendix/Special Features of the Korean Alphabet(called Hunminjeoneum or Hangeul)
| Understanding Korea Series No.1 | ||
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| Appendix: Various Hypotheses on the Creation of Hunminjeongeum | Appendix: Special Features of the Korean Alphabet(called Hunminjeoneum or Hangeul) | 3) The Phonological Features of the 28 Letters of Hunminjeongeum |
Special Features of the Korean Alphabet (called Hunminjeoneum or Hangeul)
Many scholars noticed that the graphic structure of Hunminjeoneum is unique. For example, Chao (1968: 107) described the Korean alphabet as follows: “from the point of view of the design of symbols, [the phonetic symbols in the Korean alphabet] is a writing system in which parts of unit symbols represent analytically features of the sounds.” Sampson (1985) also noticed the fact that forms of the Korean alphabet reflect the phonetical differences. He classified the writing systems of the world in his book, and displayed a classification scheme as follows:
In this classification, he established new category, called “featural writing,” to which is only the Korean alphabet system belongs. Chapter 7 of his book is about the featural system and is purely devoted to the introduction of Korean alphabet system.
| Understanding Korea Series No.1 Hangeul |
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1. Korean Language and Hangeul in East Asia · Appendix: Korean and the Altaic Family 2. Transcription of Korean Using Chinese Characters 3. The Creation of Hunminjeongeum · 3.1 King Sejong and Hunminjeongeum · Appendix: King Sejong and Jiphyeonjeon(The Academy of Worthies) · 3.2 The Design Principles of Hunminjeongeum Letters · Appendix: Various Hypotheses on the Creation of Hunminjeongeum · Appendix: Special Features of the Korean Alphabet(called Hunminjeoneum or Hangeul) · 3.3 The Phonological Features of the 28 Letters of Hunminjeongeum · Appendix: The Philosophical Background of Hunminjeongeum · 3.4 Letter Usage 4. Changes of Hangeul · 4.1 Changes in the Name: From Hunminjeongeum to Hangeul · 4.2 Changes of Letters 5. History of Hangeul Usage · 5.1 Records Written in Hangeul · 5.2 Establishment of Korean Orthography · Appendix: Korean Romanization · 5.3 The Script Reform: Mixed Script to Hangeul-only Script |
