Korean mixed script
Encyclopedia
Korean mixed script is a form of writing that uses both Hangul
(an alphabetical script) and hanja
(Sino-characters).
The script has never been used for languages other than Korean
. In North Korea, writing in mixed script was replaced by writing only in Hangul in the middle of the 20th century and has not been used since. In South Korea, the use of mixed script has slowly declined.
The script uses hanja to write Sino-Korean vocabulary, but never to write native Korean vocabulary. This distinguishes Korean mixed script (and hanja in general) from modern Japanese writing, whose kanji
may be used not only to write Sino-Japanese, but also native Japanese vocabulary and gairaigo
(words which are neither native nor Sino-vocabulary).
Using Hangul to write Sino-Korean words only became common in the 20th century. Up to the 1970s, many books and newspapers were written in mixed Hangul and hanja characters. Since then, however, the overwhelming majority of print publications are written in Hangul only. Modern texts – whether or not they contain a significant amount of native Korean vocabulary – rarely use hanja for all, or even most, of the Sino-Korean words in the text. Today, this development has reached the point at which most Korean texts are written in a form that can no longer be called mixed script, as hanja are either not used at all, or used very sparsely to disambiguate or to show the meaning of rare or newly-coined words (Hanja disambiguation). Only a few people still write in the mixed script. Furthermore, the way in which hanja are used has changed: perhaps owing to a decline in hanja literacy, it has become common to provide both a term's hanja and Hangul at that term's first occurrence in a text – instead of writing it only in hanja as is done in traditional mixed script.
Hanja still appear in many newspapers' headlines, where they serve to both disambiguate and abbreviate (for example, il for ilbon “Japan”), and to a lesser degree in some newspapers' texts, but not in magazines. They can also sometimes be found in academic literature. Mixed script making use of hanja wherever possible is still used for judicial texts such as the constitution (see example below).
or content words were generally written in hanja, while grammatical
or function words were written in hangul. It is possible that this encoding of different types of information into different types of characters speeds up reading, allowing the reader to pass over function words and visually focus on content words, and this feature of Korean mixed script has been praised by some observers, as in the following comment by Insup Taylor:
. The first text is written in Hangul; the second is its mixed script version.
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
(an alphabetical script) and hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
(Sino-characters).
The script has never been used for languages other than Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
. In North Korea, writing in mixed script was replaced by writing only in Hangul in the middle of the 20th century and has not been used since. In South Korea, the use of mixed script has slowly declined.
The script uses hanja to write Sino-Korean vocabulary, but never to write native Korean vocabulary. This distinguishes Korean mixed script (and hanja in general) from modern Japanese writing, whose kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
may be used not only to write Sino-Japanese, but also native Japanese vocabulary and gairaigo
Gairaigo
Gairaigo is Japanese for "loan word" or "borrowed word", and indicates a transliteration into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed from Chinese, primarily from English. Japanese also has a large number of loan words from...
(words which are neither native nor Sino-vocabulary).
History
From the 15th to the 20th century, the Korean mixed script usually used hanja whenever possible (that is, for all Sino-Korean words), and Hangul to write only grammatical suffixes and native Korean words.Using Hangul to write Sino-Korean words only became common in the 20th century. Up to the 1970s, many books and newspapers were written in mixed Hangul and hanja characters. Since then, however, the overwhelming majority of print publications are written in Hangul only. Modern texts – whether or not they contain a significant amount of native Korean vocabulary – rarely use hanja for all, or even most, of the Sino-Korean words in the text. Today, this development has reached the point at which most Korean texts are written in a form that can no longer be called mixed script, as hanja are either not used at all, or used very sparsely to disambiguate or to show the meaning of rare or newly-coined words (Hanja disambiguation). Only a few people still write in the mixed script. Furthermore, the way in which hanja are used has changed: perhaps owing to a decline in hanja literacy, it has become common to provide both a term's hanja and Hangul at that term's first occurrence in a text – instead of writing it only in hanja as is done in traditional mixed script.
Hanja still appear in many newspapers' headlines, where they serve to both disambiguate and abbreviate (for example, il for ilbon “Japan”), and to a lesser degree in some newspapers' texts, but not in magazines. They can also sometimes be found in academic literature. Mixed script making use of hanja wherever possible is still used for judicial texts such as the constitution (see example below).
Visual processing
When writing in Korean mixed script, semanticSemantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
or content words were generally written in hanja, while grammatical
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
or function words were written in hangul. It is possible that this encoding of different types of information into different types of characters speeds up reading, allowing the reader to pass over function words and visually focus on content words, and this feature of Korean mixed script has been praised by some observers, as in the following comment by Insup Taylor:
Example
The text below is the preamble to the constitution of the Republic of KoreaConstitution of the Republic of Korea
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea is its basic law. It was promulgated on July 17, 1948, and last revised in 1987.- History :...
. The first text is written in Hangul; the second is its mixed script version.
Further reading
- Lukoff, FredFred LukoffFred Lukoff was an American linguist who specialized in the study of the Korean language and was the first president of the International Association for Korean Language Education ....
(1982). "Introduction." A First Reader in Korean Writing in Mixed Script. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.