The Korean Alphabet : : Its History and Structure / / Young-Key Kim-Renaud.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Hawaii Press Archive eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Kim-Renaud, Young-Key,
• MitwirkendeR: Ahn, Pyong-Hi,; Kang, Sinhang,; Kim, Chin W.,; Kim-Renaud, Young-Key,; King, Ross,; Ledyard, Gari,; Lee, Ki-Moon,; Lee, Sang-Oak,; Martin, Samuel E.,; Ramsey, S. Robert,; Sohn, Ho-min,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2021]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (336 p.)

The Korean alphabet, commonly known as han'gul, has been called one of the greatest intellectual achievements of humankind. Experts agree that few writing systems can match its simplicity and efficiency, its elegance and intelligence. The only alphabet completely native to East Asia, han'gul distinguishes itself among writing systems of the world with its scientific qualities and unusual linguistic fit to the Korean language. Most strikingly, the theoretical underpinnings of the language, as well as the time and circumstances of its creation, are clearly known and recorded. Han'gul was invented in 1443 and promulgated in 1446 by King Sejong (1418-1450), sage ruler of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910). This volume, the first book-length work on han'gul in English by Korean-language specialists, is comprised of ten essays by the most active scholars of the Korean writing system. An instructive commentary by eminent linguist Samuel Martin follows, offering perceptive comments on the essays as well as a discussion on Martin's own research findings on the script.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. THE INVENTOR OF THE KOREAN ALPHABET -- 3. THE INTERNATIONAL LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND OF THE CORRECT SOUNDS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE PEOPLE -- 4. THE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE INVENTION OF THE KOREAN ALPHABET -- 5. GRAPHICAL INGENUITY IN THE KOREAN WRITING SYSTEM: WITH NEW REFERENCE TO CALLIGRAPHY -- 6. THE VOWEL SYSTEM OF THE KOREAN ALPHABET AND KOREAN READINGS OF CHINESE CHARACTERS -- 7. THE INVENTION OF THE ALPHABET AND THE HISTORY OF THE KOREAN LANGUAGE -- 8. THE STRUCTURE OF PHONOLOGICAL UNITS IN HAN'GǓL -- 9. THE PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS REFLECTED IN THE KOREAN WRITING SYSTEM -- 10. ORTHOGRAPHIC DIVERGENCE IN SOUTH AND NORTH KOREA: TOWARD A UNIFIED SPELLING SYSTEM -- 11. EXPERIMENTATION WITH HAN'GǓL IN RUSSIA AND THE USSR, 1914-1937 -- 12. COMMENTARY -- APPENDIX l:A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE KOREAN ALPHABET -- APPENDIX 2: PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE HUNMIN CHONG'UM AND HUNMIN CHONG'UM HAERYE -- APPENDIX 3: PHOTOGRAPHS OF A PAGE OF A NORTH KOREAN NEWSPAPER AND A PAGE OF A SOUTH KOREAN NEWSPAPER -- APPENDIX 4: COMPARISON OF ROMANIZATION SYSTEMS -- CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX