2. The Chief Distinctions and Background of
the Principles of Making Graphemes
The elucidation of the principles of making graphemes
has been the heaviest subject for modern Korean
linguists. It is due to the fact that they had
neglected and left their indigenous writing Hangeul
for a long time and, as a result, they could not
know so much as the circumstances of its invention.
Now the many forgotten facts have been ascertained
again through research. Yet there still have remained
some doubtful points, and even a clue of the discussion
has not been found. Therefore, the author will
at first review the content and distinctions of
making principles which have been revealed till
now, and in the next step will partially mention
the future task.
It was shortly after the discovery of ?Hunmin-Jeongeum?
in the middle of the twentieth century that a
lot of genuine studies started. It may be said
that they did not know even of the invention of
Hangeul or they would not try to believe it before
the discovery. Thus, the object of research and
studies was not the principle of making graphemes,
but chiefly the origins of Hangeul. Even the outset
of this century saw more than ten theories appear,
but the discovery of ?Hunmin- Jeongeum? completely
changed the circumstances. Hunmin-Jeongeum is
a name of both the writing system and a book of
explanation on it. In this paper, the book is
referred to as ?Hunmin-Jeongeum?, and the writing
system as Hangeul. ?Hunmin- Jeongeum? was firstly
published in the twenty-eighth year of King Sejong(1446).
It had been forgotten since, and a copy which
is believed to be the original one was discovered
in Andong, Kyongsangbuk-do Province in 1940.
Many important facts (who, when, how, why invented
Hangeul, etc.) which could answer the questions
and correct misunderstandings, were reported in
the book. Consequently the principles of making
graphemes, instead of the origins, were naturally
afloat as a core subject of research around ?Humin-Jeongeum?.
The principles of making graphemes which could
be ascertained through the report of ?Humin-Jeongeum?
and the past studies, are as follows:
(a) A syllable(or a sound) was
analyzed into initial sound (=onset, 初聲), medial
sound(=rhyme, 中聲), and final sound(=coda, 終聲).
(b) Two classes of graphemes were prepared for
onset and rhyme respectively.9)
(c) For coda, the graphemes of
onset,
rather than new graphemes, were used together.
(d) For onset and rhyme, a few basic graphemes
were invented first, and through some modifications
of them other graphemes were derived.
(e) The basic graphemes for onset were made after
articulatory organs, the ones for rhyme were made
by imitating the concepts of heaven, earth, and
man.
(f) In the case of onset, each weakest sound in
every places of articulation was represented by
a basic grapheme, and a stroke(劃) was added to
basic graphemes in order to make remaining ones.
10)
(g) The philosophical principles
such as Yin and Yang(陰陽) were also reflected on
the determination of the graphic shapes for rhyme.
(h) In a practical usage onset and rhyme and coda
were jointed and written with syllable unit.
The above is the outline of the
principles of making graphemes.11)
A discussion of all the facts related to the principles
of making graphemes would be endless,but with
this much of an introduction it is possible to
analyze the distinctions and background of the
principles of making graphemes to some extent.
The most important distinctions were ‘originality’
and ‘scientific nature’. It means that the making
method was theoretical, and in turn, the theory
was new. These two distinctions have been innumerably
mentioned, and the author does not feel the necessity
of further comment. But a more detailed analysis
is believed to be necessary for the concrete content
and the background.
The core part of the principles of making graphemes
was the analysis of speech sound and the establishment
of the related theory. Without any detailed record,
we could hardly grasp the methodology and procedure
of research at that time, but through the investigation
of the completed writing system, the content and
conclusion of the research could roughly be understood.
It is well known that they analyzed a sound into
three parts and correctly grasped the lists, structures,
and features in each part, and finally reflected
the results in the process of making graphemes(graphic
shapes).12)
This work was done five hundred and fifty years
ago! Furthermore, the level of analysis was as
high as that of modern linguistics, and the methodology
and conclusion could be said to be completely
new. Hence we can claim the scientific nature
and originality of Hangeul without any hesitation.
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