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From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Korean: Odd man out?
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References: <4kd461$hr1@juliana.sprynet.com> <SDLEE.96Apr9210621@wisdom.cs.hku.hk> <DpLyFn.4qL@midway.uchicago.edu> <316a8590.22056856@news.nando.net>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 01:20:50 GMT
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In article <316a8590.22056856@news.nando.net>,
D Gary Grady <dgary@nando.net> wrote:

>Something that I don't think has been clarified here (or the posting
>hasn't reached my site yet...) is a clear description of how Korean is
>actually written.  I'm not talking about there symbols but how they
>are constructed, since the idea is so original that it's not at all
>obvious to someone unfamiliar with it.

	As I said, I find it difficult to try to explain how Korean
is written without actually displaying hankul letters--an impossibility
in ASCII.  This is why I encourage all interested parties to seek out
information elsewhere.  Does anyone know of any relevant websites?

>Here is my understanding, based on reading but not on actual knowledge
>of the language(s) in question. (I would appreciate corrections and
>amplifications.)
>
>Written Korean looks at first glance a lot like Japanese or Chinese,
>basically a sequence of squared-off characters. What's distinctive
>about Korean is the way in which those characters are formed.
>
>Each character represents a syllable.  A syllabic character is made up
>of components, each of which acts like an alphabetic letter (i.e.,
>stands for a phoneme). Within the character, the component "letters"
>are written more or less from top to bottom (if I remember correctly).

Top to bottom and left to right.  The components do not just act like
alphabetic letters, they are alphabetic letters.  In fact, during the
reform of the script at the turn of the century, it was suggested that
the syllabic blocks be abandoned and the letters be linearly, as in
European scripts.

>(My understanding is that Korean writing also uses Chinese characters
>but to a smaller extent than does Japanese.)

This is correct.  In fact, Chinese characters (called "hanca/hanja" in
Korean) have been officially abolished in North Korea.  Their use varies
in the South:  Children's books avoid them entirely, most popular works
use them only to clarify homophones, but the first South Korean newspaper 
to abandon them entirely (they are used, above all, in headlines) soon
reinstated them and the works of most historians are unintelligible with-
out a thorough knowledge of hanca.  Official policy has been anything but
consistent in regards them, so individual familiarity varies wildly.

>The idea of building a character out of smaller components appears
>also, I think, in one of the alphabets of J.R.R. Tolkien, in which
>it's clear from the form of the letter (if I'm remembering right)
>whether the corresponding consonant is voiced or unvoiced, along with
>some other information. (It would be interesting to devise an
>alternative IPA in which one could read the pronunciation more or less
>directly from the character. For example, a symbol made up of a
>combination of pieces meaning stop-lingual-alveolar-unvoiced-aspirate
>might be used for the English T. OK, it's just a thought...)

I've always thought that the tengwar would make an elegant and practical
replacement for the IPA.  Too bad they couldn't have been invented sooner.
(Actually, there is a striking parallel to the tengwar created during the
"universal language" fervour of the 17th century.)
-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
