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Han-geul is a phonemic writing system,
and it consists of letters for consonants and vowels. Unlike
general phonemic writing systems such as the Roman Alphabet,
it was uniquely designed to combine consonant letters and
vowel letters into syllabic units. Because of this, we can
say that it has something in common with syllabic writing
systems.
The current spelling system of Hangeul is based on a draft
for unified Hangeul spelling system proposed by Chosun Language
Institution in 1933. This was partly revised in 1988 but,
the basic features remain almost the same. Hangeul consists
of consonant letters and vowels letters. Even though Hangeul
is a phonemic writing, its letters are uniquely composed in
a syllable unit.
For example, a word, ‘꿀벌(bee)’ is written like '꿀벌' not like
'ㄲ ㅜ ㄹ ㅂㅓㄹ'. The syllable as a letter is divided into three
positions: the initial sound, the medial sound, and the final
consonant. Any one among 19 consonant letters can be an initial
sound. 'ㅇ’ among those 19 letters does not have a sound. For
example, in case of '우유(milk)', two 'ㅇ’s are just there filling
the space without making any sound in '우’ and ‘유’. Any one
among 21 vowel letters can be a medial sound. One out of 16
single consonant letters and 11 double consonant letters can
fill the final consonant location. |
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