Presentation 2 (History of Korean Language)

[Vivian Lee]

History%20of%20Korean%20Language%20-%20Vivian%20%281%29.pptx

• The relationship between Korean and other languages is not known for sure, though some linguists believe it to be a member of the Altaic family of languages (Turkish, Mongolian, and Tungusic/Manchu)

Origin of Korean:

• Chinese writing has been known in Korea for over 2,000 years. It was used widely during the Chinese occupation of northern Korea from 108 BC to 313 AD.
• The modern Korean writing system, hangeul, was devised in 1443 during the reign of King Sejong
• Before hangeul, other Korean scripts used a complex system of Chinese characters to represent the sounds of Korean. But because of the differences between Chinese and Korean, Chinese characters could not adequately denote Korean speech
• Only the elite could afford the time necessary to study Chinese, so King Sejong commissioned the invention of a phonetic script both more efficient and more accessible to the common people
• The invention of hangeul marks a major achievement in the history of Korean culture because it has contributed to one of the highest literacy rates in the world (~100%)
• Hangeul Day on October 9^th

Korean alphabet (Hangeul):

• Consists of 24 letters (14 consonants & 10 vowels)
• The letters are combined together into syllable blocks
• Its three main vowels (ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅣ) represent the sky, the earth and man
•  The shapes of the consonants are based on the shape the mouth made when the corresponding sound is made (ㄱ is the shape of the tongue as it forms a ‘g’ sound (add a line, like so ㅋ, for an aspirated ‘g’, and double the letter , ㄲ, for one with a glottal stop)

Hangeul and Hanja:

• Even after the invention of the Korean alphabet, most Koreans who could write continued to write in Classical Chinese. The Korean alphabet was associated with people of low status (i.e. women, children and the uneducated).
• During the 19th and 20th centuries a mixed writing system combining Chinese characters (Hanja) and Hangeul became increasingly popular. Since 1945, Chinese characters in Korean writing has diminished significantly.
• Now, most modern Korean literature and informal writing is written entirely in hangeul, however academic papers and official documents tend to be written in a mixture of hangeul and hanja.

Direction of Writing:

• Until the 1980s, Korean was usually written from right to left in vertical columns.

 

Modern Korean

• Today, the majority of texts are written horizontally with western spacing and punctuation. 
• Roughly half the Korean vocabulary consists of words derived from Chinese, mainly through the Confucian classics.
• Today South Koreans generally use a hybrid writing system in which words derived from Chinese are written with Chinese characters, while Korean words are written in hangeul.