The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul internationally, Hangeul in South Korea, and Choson'gŭl in North Korea, has had multiple different orthographies. North Korea's current official orthography is called "Orthography" () and is part of the . South Korea's current orthography is the Hangeul Orthography.
Hangul is also used to transcribe other languages, especially Jeju and Cia-Cia. Orthographies for those languages are fairly similar to those for Korean, although they use one or more additional letters.
Depth The depth of current Hangul orthographies is a subject of some disagreement. Many scholars argue current orthographies have a relatively shallow or transparent orthography, in that pronunciation generally closely corresponds to what is written. Their complexities are often the product of sound changes in the Korean language over time as well as morphophonemic orthographic practices (changing some spellings to reflect the function or meaning of some words). Some have described current orthographies as deep because of the morphophonemic practices.
Spelling In general, words are spelled as they sound in the respective standard Korean dialect, with most exceptions being due to morphophonemic word-formation rules. For example, is spelled the way it is pronounced. However, has this spelling despite being pronounced . This is because it follows a word-formation rule that preserves the spellings of the stem verb and the particle . Other exceptions also exist, for example relating to pronunciation differences between stem words when pronounced alone and when attached to particles that begin with .
North–South differences
Various shared words are spelled differently between North and South Korea. One significant reason for this is the differing standard dialects used. North Korea uses the Pyongan dialect and South Korea the Gyeonggi dialect. Differences arise due to various phonemena, including the initial sound rule, vowel harmony, local pronunciations, loanwords, tensing, compounds, morphological derivation, and the (epenthic ).
Punctuation
Current punctuation Hangul has used varying punctuation over time and now in both North and South Korea. Modern Hangul now uses a mix of modern Western, Korean, and East Asian punctuation.
South Korean punctuation South Korean punctuation largely follows Western practice, with some exceptions. Examples of exceptions include 『 』 or ≪ ≫; either of these sets of characters can be put around titles of works. Also, the tilde (~) can be used to indicate ranges of numbers or dates, as well as distances.
Spaces are used in Hangul. As with most other scripts, practices around spaces are somewhat arbitrary and ambiguous because it is difficult to define what a word is. Spacing is considered to be one of the most difficult aspects of Hangul orthography; many native Korean speakers do not use spaces properly or sometimes even at all. In general, spaces are inserted between lexical clusters called eojeol (). These lexical clusters can be subdivided into various other categories. Each eojeol can consist of a word and its subsequent corresponding particles or compounds. For example, "" consists of two eojeol separated by a space. The first is "" () with an attached adpositional particle "". The second is "", a conjugated verb.
North Korean punctuation North Korean punctuation is similar to Western practice. Differences include the lack of Western quotation marks (e.g. "), which are replaced by guillemet (≪ ≫). Like South Korea, it recommends the tilde (~) for ranges of numbers or dates. Recommendations are also given for vertical writing. Vertical writing punctuation is largely the same as horizontal, but guidance is given on the placement and rotation of some punctuation marks.
North Korean spacing rules result in fewer spaces and more compound words when compared to South Korea's.
Historical punctuation
The original punctuation system was called kuduchŏm (). In the 15th century, a small circle was used to mark major phrasal and sentential/clausal endings. If the circle was placed in the center after a syllable, it marked the end of a major break within a sentence. If it was placed in the right corner of the cell of the final syllable, it possibly indicated either the end of a sentence or a rising tone indicating a pause for that final character.
Some texts, when using Hangul to transcribe foreign languages like Japanese or Manchu, used a variety of relatively unique punctuation for various purposes.
Tone markings , called pangchŏm (), were originally used in Hangul to indicate tones. They were marked by dots to the left of a Hangul character:
Level tone () had no dots Departing tone () had a single dot ( 〮) Rising tone () had two dots ( 〯) Entering tone () does not receive its own dot indication. Hangul's creators argue it is implicit in certain words, but Ledyard reads this as implying Korean doesn't have a specific entering tone.
The writers of the Haerye designed this system because they thought that Middle Korean had tones, similar to those of Chinese. However, a number of modern scholars disagree with this. Several argue that Middle Korean was a pitch-accent language that had pitches, possibly two: high and low. Tone markings were widespread until their decline in the 16th century.
Syllable blocks Hangul letters are arranged into syllable blocks in a principle called moassŭgi (). Each syllable block is broadly divided into two or three components: an initial consonant (), vowel (; also called "medial"), and optional final consonant (; also called ). Final heterogenous digraph consonant clusters are orthographically considered to be two different letters combined, but phonologically considered to be a single letter. When no initial consonant sound is needed, the zero initial consonant is used.
To construct a syllable block, the following rules are applied in order:
Write the initial consonant. Place the vowel depending on the appropriate condition below: If the vowel has a long vertical stroke (, , , , , , , , or ), write it to the right of the initial. If the vowel has a long horizontal stroke (, , , , ), write it below the initial. If the vowel is a combination and begins with a long horizontal stroke followed by a long vertical stroke (e.g. ), place the initial above the horizontal stroke. If there is a non-zero final consonant, it is written at the bottom. If the final consonant is a combination, place the letters side by side.
Assuming consonant clusters are treated as single letters, following the above steps yields the following possible consonant blocks:
initialmedial
initialmedial
initialmed.2med. 1
initialmedialfinal
initialmedialfinal
initialmed.2med.final
Current standard Hangul letters (19 initial consonants, 21 vowels, and 28 final consonants) can be combined to yield 11,172 syllables. However, many of those syllables virtually never see use in natural language; scholars have argued that only around 2,000 are used in Korean.
Several scholars have argued that the syllable block structure was likely inspired by and makes Hangul resemble the form of Chinese characters, and that their similar form aids compatibility in writing them together in mixed script.
Several scholars have argued that the syllable block structure is a good fit for the phonology and speech cadence of Korean. Several have also argued that the limited number of syllable shapes, with vowels and consonants in consistent positions, makes Hangul easier to read and learn. Taylor and Taylor argue that the syllable block structure is especially helpful to young children learning Korean and for people with disabilities that affect reading.
Some scholars have argued that syllable blocks have the downside of causing orthographic complexity and difficulty with moveable type and computers. In especially the 19th and 20th centuries, these downsides motivated Hangul reformers to debate if the syllable block structure should be abandoned in favor of a fully linear orthography. Such an orthography was called (). While several p'urŏssŭgi orthographies were developed, none ever saw significant adoption.
Writing direction
Historically, Hangul syllable blocks were arranged vertically (top to bottom, right to left). Over the course of the 20th century, horizontal writing (left to right, top to bottom) became dominant in both Koreas. South Korea allows both horizontal and vertical writing, while North Korea officially prefers horizontal writing. Lee and Ramsey argue that the syllable block structure of Hangul aids the adaptability of the script to both directions of writing.
History
15th century
Punch'ŏl vs. yŏnch'ŏl debate The punch'ŏl () vs. yŏnch'ŏl () debate was significant in Hangul's early history. These two terms are used to describe two types of Hangul spelling. Around Hangul's promulgation, two factions emerged that advocated each of these approaches. The yŏnch'ŏl faction produced the Haerye and promoted a relatively phonemic orthography that aimed to more directly tie pronunciation to spelling. The punch'ŏl faction, which included Sejong, preferred a more morphophonemic approach that aims to preserve the spelling of underlying words. For example, when joining the noun "" and particle "", punch'ŏl prefers the spelling "", while yŏnch'ŏl prefers "". These apparent factions used their preferred orthographies in projects they were significantly involved with. Yŏnch'ŏl is easier for new learners of Hangul and Korean, because one simply needs to transcribe what they hear. Punch'ŏl is easier for people familiar with Hangul and Korean, because it preserves spellings based on underlying meanings. By the late 16th century, punch'ŏl was much more popular than yŏnch'ŏl. Some texts around this period that applied a mix of punch'ŏl and yŏnch'ŏl have been described as chungch'ŏl (). Punch'ŏl eventually won out, and is now the practice in both North and South Korea. Still, modern scholars have debated which approach they think is superior.
In spite of the above disagreement, Lee and Ramsey argue that Hangul in this century was "highly standardized", with "unusually consistent" orthography.
16th to early 19th centuries The 16th century saw a number of changes to Hangul orthography. Various letters gradually ceased to be used, including by the start of the century, by the 1570s to 1580s, and the doubled characters and . Tone markings also ceased to be used by around the 1580s.
The 1592–1598 Imjin War caused significant orthographic inconsistency that worsened into the 18th and 19th centuries, with the rise of Hangul popular literature. Consonant clusters were particularly affected, with significant variety in how they were rendered. Also, changes in letter usage that had occurred in the 16th century became cemented in the 17th.
Enlightenment and Korean Empire periods The Enlightenment Period in Korean history occurred around the late Joseon and Korean Empire periods; around 1896 to 1910. Around this time, various Hangul reform movements arose, with many persisting into the rest of the 20th century. Collectively, these efforts are referred to as the .
In 1896, linguist Chu Sigyŏng (1876–1914), who is now often called the "father of modern Korean linguistics", founded the Society for the Standardization of Korean Writing (). On July 19, 1905, the Korean Empire government approved a new orthography designed by : the New Edition of National Writing (). It immediately proved controversial and was never fully implemented. To research and potentially resolve the disputes, in 1907, the government established the (NLRI). Chu Sigyŏng was a significant voice in the NLRI. The organization lasted until December 27, 1909. While it managed to submit several reports on orthographic reform, Korea's rapidly deteriorating sovereignty around this time negatively impacted the implementation of their work.