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Writing Systems, Reading Processes, and Cross-Linguistic Influences: Reflections from the Chinese, Japanese and Korean Languages
Edited by Hye K. Pae
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 7] 2018
► pp. 335–352

Chapter 16
The Korean writing system, Hangul, and word processing

This chapter reviews the development of the Korean script, Hangul, from its birth to linguistic and psycholinguistic implications for word reading. It first discusses the language family and the structure of the Korean oral language. Given that the emergence of the script is unlike most scripts or writing systems, it next overviews the invention background of Hangul. The script encompasses the characteristics of phonemic, syllabic, and alphasyllabic writing systems by means of the systematic union of consonants and vowels as well as the regular phoneme-grapheme correspondence. As these characteristics result in significant consequences in processing texts, the structure of Hangul is surveyed from linguistic aspects, while its orthography is reviewed from psycholinguistic aspects. The chapter ends with a call for moving from the accumulation of empirical evidence to the phase of building theoretical models.

Keywords: Korean Hangul , syllabic configuration, alphasyllabic features
Article outline
  • The Korean language and linguistic genealogy
  • A brief history of the meticulous invention of Hangul and its implications
  • The structure of Hangul: Linguistic aspects
    • Consonants and vowels
    • Syllabic structures
  • The orthography of Hangul: Psycholinguistic aspects
    • Alphabetic aspects
    • Syllabic aspects
    • Alphasyllabic aspects
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 July 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.7.16pae
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