It is difficult to determine
exactly how many Chinese characters are needed.
We can refer to the 4,888 Korean standard Chinese
characters and the 15,768 Chinese characters of
HWP - the primary level of 4,888 Chinese characters
and the secondary level of 10,880 Chinese characters.
The author thinks that 4,888 Korean standard Chinese
characters are sufficient for relatively specialized
writing mixed with Chinese characters. Therefore,
there would be no problem in accepting these 4,888
Chinese characters. Exactly 4966 characters can
be admitted if the second byte begins at the 64th
ASCII code ‘@’ in the 2-byte complete style. In
taking into account special characters and user-definable
characters, about 1,000 in all, 23 initial consonants,
23 medial vowels, and 30 final consonants are
finally admitted. In that case, there are 4 more
initial consonants, 2 more medial vowels, and
3 more final consonants than the current combination
style of Hangeul uses.
As mentioned above, the initial consonants, medial
vowels, and final consonants can have room made
for their number to be increased in the code structure
of the computer. This space has to be filled by
old consonants and vowels which must be selected
on the basis of frequency in old literature and
the base forms of old words. In that case, ‘ㅸ,
ㅿ, ㅺ, ㅼ’ for the 4 initial consonants, ‘ㆍ, ㆎ’
for the 2 medial vowels , and ‘ㅭ, ㅸ, ㅿ’ for the
3 final consonants are most desirably selected.
The sequential order in current old Korean dictionaries
is proper for the additional old graphemes, but
‘ㆍ’ can be expected to be followed by ‘ㅏ’ in the
medial vowels.
The FILL CODES’ position in the order has to be
changed in the current sequence. All FILL CODES
of the initial consonants, medial vowels, and
final consonants have preceded the corresponding
consonants and vowels in the current code system,
so that the sequential order cannot be right.
The normal sequence ‘ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣ’
transforms to such a sequence as ‘ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ’
in the sequence-processing by the current code
system. It is something not true of an everyday
sequence of language use. The FILL CODES of the
initial consonants have to follow ㅎ, not precede
ㄱin order to correct the wrong sequence. In that
case, ‘?’ doesn't precede ‘가’ but follows ‘히’
in spite of the absence of an initial consonant.
The FILL CODES of medial vowels and final consonants
are sequenced before the corresponding consonants
and vowels, as in the current code system.
Third, there are some problems in realizing Hangeul.
Hangeul can be realized in two ways: through hardware
or software. The former not only cannot ensure
an equal environment to individuals because the
hardware has to be installed additionally to the
computer, but also poses a lot of problems resulting
from the necessity of changing to new versions
of hardware. The computer of today has enough
memory so that there is no trouble in using software
Hangeul. Software Hangeul can be installed in
MS DOS, built into application programs, permanently
stationed in RAM, and so on. Hangeul MS DOS 6.2
is used now, but it is not efficient in Korean
linguistics because the complete style of Hangeul
is used.
The built-in program style can use Hangeul simultaneously
with a corresponding application program because
Hangeul is realized in individual application
programs (word processors, programs for statistics,
programs for data-bases, programs for computer
communications, programs for games, and some CD's
for literature, such as encyclopedias, etc.) Although
there is no problem if the use of Hangeul is limited
to the corresponding program, co-exchangeability
is problematic when Hangeul files of the corresponding
program are used in other programs or vice versa.
If the Hangeul codes of the corresponding programs
are the same as those of other programs, or vice
versa, Hangeul data can be used properly. The
co-exchangeability cannot be ensured if an independent
code system is selected for processing special
symbols such as Chinese characters in Hangeul
built-in applied programs.
The TSR (Terminate-and-Stay-Resident) RAM method
puts the programs for Hangeul in the computer's
memory. There are the BIOS support method and
the time-interrupt support method and so on in
this mode. They may cause some problems with the
use of some application programs, especially English
versions of software.
The motivations to use the computer
in Korean linguistics are two: the one is to use
the word processor programs in which files are
written and printed, the other is to check or
to index the written data. The program HWP is
the most famous and conspicuous for its sufficient
support of old Hangeul and Chinese characters
needed in Korean linguistics. Although HWP is
quite sufficient for the purpose of writing and
printing files produced in itself, it stops processing
the data in other programs because its unique
symbols are codified in the code system of the
built-in program style. The contemporary Hangeul
and the primary level of 4,888 Chinese characters
written in HWP files can only be exchanged with
ones written in other programs. Therefore, it
can be pointed out that Hangeul, including old
syllables and Chinese characters, has to be processed
with a TSR RAM style for efficient processing
of the data. The word processor programs are nothing
but an instrument for inputting data when we use
computers in order to process data. |