3. The Graphic Shapes of Hangeul

A letter(or character) is a visual symbol. That is, each letter has its own shape which is distinct from others, and ultimately by that distinctiveness it preserves its own linguistic function. It follows that just as a study of speech sound is needed and feasible in every language, so a discussion of the graphic shape is needed and feasible also in every writing system. Yet the substance of that discussion cannot but vary from one writing system to another. It is because each writing system has its own unique nature and historical background. Hangeul is a writing system which was determined by a completely different process from any other writing system with different graphic shapes. Owing to its unique principles of making graphemes, the subject and content of the discussion of the graphic shapes of Hangeul are forced to be unique.

The discussion of the graphic shapes can be made from various perspectives. The origins and historical developments of the graphic shapes can be discussed, and the features of the forms of the graphic shapes can also be discussed. The determination of the graphic shapes of Hangeul was already explained in the former part of this paper on the whole. The principles of making graphemes correspond to the origins of the graphic shapes. Thus, the author is going to focus on the second subject, that is, the features of forms. Yet it is not that this second subject has nothing to do with the principles of making graphemes.

All the graphic shapes of Hangeul(consonants and vowels) commonly have two special distinctions. Firstly, every one of them has its own significance; secondly, each one, even though independent, functions as a part of the whole in actual writing. The former is, as was mentioned above, due to the unique principles of making graphemes. The inventors studied the special traits (features) of sound and reflected them in the graphic shapes in the process of the determination of the graphic shapes. This is the reason why the graphic shapes have various pieces of information.

Also in making personal names in a family with more than two children, their parents may use either two different cha-s(=syllable; e.g. Man-Son and Tong-Jun) or one same cha and another different cha(e.g. Thae-Hyon and Chi-Hyon) in their names. In these cases the two namings are different from each other in the information and function which they represent. The function of the former is just to differentiate each child from the remaining children, that of the latter is additionally to inform us of another piece of information. It is true of the graphic shapes of Hangeul, too. In the graphic shapes of Hangeul the phonological and the philosophical information were programmed in from the first. The sound unit of Hangeul, represented by each grapheme, is a phoneme as in the case of the Roman alphabet, but the shapes of Hangeul should be distinguished from the Roman alphabet because of this programming.

It goes without saying that the second special distinction, that each letter(=grapheme)-even though independent-functions as a part of the whole in actual writing, is a phenomenon derived from the principle of joining letters by syllable unit(e.g. ㄱ[ka] +ㅏ[a] + ㅁ[m] = 감[kam]). This principle was not determined after the determination of the graphic shapes, but each graphic shape was determined according to the principle of joining letters by syllable unit. Therefore the writing principle must have influenced the determination of each graphic shape. This becomes clear when Hangeul is written in linear fashion without joining the letters in syllable units. Many scholars including Chu Shi-Gy?ng insisted on disjointed writing,19)
  And the content of such claims contained the revision of the graphic shapes. This is eloquent testimony to the fact that the existing graphic shapes were brought about under the presupposition of the joined writing.

The fact that the graphic shapes of initial sound(=onset) and medial sound(=rhyme) were visually separated from the beginning, could be explained by the presupposition of joined writing. It is not necessary for consonants and vowels to be distinguished in form as in a case like the Roman alphabet. Everybody is an individual, and at the same time is a member of a group like a family. Similarly, an initial sound or a medial sound in its own sense of the term means an element of a sound, rather than an independent sound. Thus a letter (=grapheme) made for writing an initial sound can not become a complete one in itself. This leads ultimately to the conclusion that the discussion of the graphic shapes of Hangeul cannot be completed only on the graphic level. Actually in Hangeul, the same initial letter can become slightly different in its shape according to its different place whether it is used for onset or for coda.

There are many additional subjects which could and should be discussed with regard to the graphic shapes of Hangeul. Yet everything has its own procedure and sequence. As was emphasized in the above, in the case of Hangeul, it is the most urgent and the most important task to distinguish between a writing(=graphic) unit and another writing unit put together by writing(=graphic) units. The two units should be clearly distinguished in terms, if other distinctions are to be clearly discussed and described.