Hangeul (Hangul), Korean Alphabet

agmoore (64)in #korea • 7 years ago (edited)

The Korean alphabet, Hangeul, which was invented in 1446. Image attribution: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Wikimedia.

This post is written as an introduction to a fascinating aspect of modern Korea. I've read a bit about the interplay between colonialism and language in China, Hawaii and Singapore. And I've done some research on the general effects of colonialism on indigenous cultures. I was unaware of the role writing reform played in Korea, especially after the Japanese occupation ended in 1945. I hope I've done justice to a very complex subject.

One of the methods commonly employed by a colonizing nation is to suppress the culture of its colony. The intention is to make citizens of the colony more compliant. Cultural suppression is often accomplished through language. The suppression may be functional or formal. An example of functional suppression would be India (conquered by the British), where knowledge of English was essential for civil employment or for dealing with the ruling authority. Sometimes suppression of language is by edict. This was the case in the nineteenth century when the United States annexed Hawaii and declared that the Hawaiian language could not be spoken in schools. In the eighteenth century it happened in Ukraine, under Russian occupation, when it was forbidden to print books in Ukrainian. An example from the fourteenth century occurred in Ireland, where the use of Gaelic was prohibited under English rule. And, in the twentieth century, it happened in Korea, during the Japanese occupation.

A Hawaiian banknote, printed in the indigenous Hawaiian language, 1839. Printed by the Boston Banknote Company. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Both functional and formal suppression of the Korean language occurred during the Japanese occupation of 1910 to 1945. However, even before 1910, Japan's influence over Korea was significant. In 1876, Korea was forced to sign the Treaty of Gangwa. This treaty ceded to Japan trading privileges and certain legal rights in Korea. In 1905, the Korean emperor was forced to agree to a treaty that encroached further on Korean sovereignty. The Korean Emperor, Gonjong, asked world leaders to repudiate the illegitimate document, but those leaders declined to intercede and in effect gave Japan permission to continue its aggression. (In time, the leaders would probably regret their lack of foresight). By the time Japan's formal occupation of Korea became a reality, in 1910, the groundwork for control had been well laid.

Personal accountsof life under Japanese occupation describe cultural suppression and physical oppression. In 1937, Japan tightened its hold on the Korean people. Civilians were conscripted as laborers and as soldiers. It was ordered that all instruction in schools be conducted in Japanese. The Korean people were expected to adopt Japanese as their lingua franca.

In 1945, when the Japanese occupation ended (with Japan's defeat at the end of WWII), the Korean people threw off not only the physical but also the cultural yoke of Japan. One expression of Korea's national pride was the embrace of its own language, and its unique system of writing, Hangeul (although the spelling of this word can be controversial, with some arguing for Hangul as a more accurate transliteration).

This document, by the Emperor Gonjong of Korea, repudiates the Eulsa Treaty with Japan in 1905. The Emperor explains to leaders of the world that the Treaty was drafted under duress and that he actually never signed it. This treaty made Korea into a Japanese Protectorate and laid the foundation for the 1910 occupation. World leaders ignored Gonjong, effectively giving assent to Japan's aggression. Public domain, copyright expired, Wikimedia Commons.

Hangeul had first been introduced into Korea by King Sejong, of the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910), in 1446. King Sejong wanted to reform the writing system, which for hundreds of years had used Chinese characters. The King realized this form of written expression could be mastered only by the elite. The King wanted to make writing simple, so it could be mastered by all the people of Korea. The complexity of Chinese characters, he recognized, was a bar to communication and progress.

King Sejong explained that Chinese characters were not designed for the Korean language. These characters did not reflect the phonology of Korean speech, nor did they precisely convey the significance of Korean words. The King charged scholars to study the issue and come back with a writing system that would be easy to understand and that would be designed to match spoken Korean. (In "The History of the Korean Language", by Cynthia Hallen and Michelle Lee, it is suggested that Korean is closer to "Turkic, Mongolic and Tungus-Manchu" languages than it is to Chinese.)

The King's scholars came up with a "simple, easily learnable phonetic alphabet". The alphabet consisted of twenty-eight letters that were designed to accommodate the shape of the mouth as it expressed the sounds of the Korean language. Modern linguists who analyzed Hanguel have described it as the "perfect" language.

An interesting parallel to the problem King Sejong addressed was the twentieth--century effort in China to reform its writing system. As had been true in Korea, modern Chinese leaders realized that literacy in China would never expand if the country stayed wedded to its archaic characters. Both the Kuomintang(1928-1949) and the People's Republic of China (1949-present) attempted to modernize the Chinese writing system. These efforts met with mixed results. While a "simplified" form of Chinese is in use today, the modernization of language has not gone as far as some reformers once visualized.

King Sejong's reform, Hangeul, took a long time to be widely adopted, but ultimately proved to be the effective measure the King had imagined. After the Japanese occupation ended, use of the Korean language became an expression of national pride, and Hangeul became an extension of that pride.

"A partial translation of HunminJeongeum, the original promulgation of Hangeul". It uses both Hanja and Hangeul. Written by King Sejong, 1446. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The original alphabet the scholars presented to King Sejong's had twenty-eight letters. This was simplified further so that today there are only 24 letters. Hangeul is not only accessible, but also aesthetically pleasing. Skilled calligraphers who work in Hangeul are respected artists. A museum in Seoul, The Calligraphy Arts Museum, is dedicated to the display of calligraphy, both Korean and Chinese.

Hangeul is considered so important to Korean culture that in both North and South Korea holidays are set aside to celebrate its invention. (In the North the alphabet is called Choson'gul). The holiday in South Korea, October 9, is called Hangul Day. In the North, Choson'gul Day is celebrated on January 15.

"Wiktionary" (misspelled) in Hangeul. By 아흔. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Wikimedia Commons.

The Korean language is one of the oldest living languages on earth. Tracing its development, and the introduction of Hanguel, offers Western observers an illuminating view of contemporary Korea and an insightful glimpse into its long history.

A wall displaying Korean calligraphy at the Korean Cultural Festival on October 1, Budapest. Image credit: Teemah, on Wikimedia Commons. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

An afternote:
Embracing Hanguel does not require Koreans to completely rejecting Chinese characters, which are called Hanja in Korea. There are disagreements about the role Hanja should play in contemporary Korea, particularly in schools. Some Koreans believe there is value in understanding this part of Korea's cultural tradition and that it should be taught in schools. Other Koreans want only Hangeul taught. Currently, most popular publications, such as newspapers, feature only Hangeul.

#writing #history #culture #language