A Study on Hangeul Orthography Guidelines for Foreigners.

Abstract

This study focuses on a review of Hangeul orthography guidelines in Korean language regulations. It is indispensable to revise the guidelines thoroughly because it has been more than 80 years since a unified plan of Korean orthography was established in 1933, which the current orthography is based on. Also, it has been approximately 30 years since 1989, when the current guidelines were issued and promulgated. The viewpoint towards this review reflects the requirements by education fields of Korean as a foreign language and modern Korean users. Hangeul orthography consists of six clauses, along with an appendix regarding punctuation marks: 1) general rules, 2) consonants and vowels, 3) related to sounds, 4) about forms, 5) spacing between words, and 6) miscellaneous. This paper examined individual clauses and specific usages of the clauses, in terms of Korean as a foreign language. Based on the review, this paper suggests the following tasks in order to establish a draft of Hangeul orthography for foreigners. A. Among the individual clauses, some clauses that embody vocabulary education aspects should be addressed in a Korean dictionary, and deleted in Hangeul orthography guidelines. B. The clauses of Hangeul orthography guidelines should be edited for revision and substitution where necessary. C. The usage of individual clauses should be replaced with more appropriate examples aligned with everyday conversation. D. In order to establish ‘Hangeul orthography for foreigners’, linguists should continuously review several chapters and the appendix of Hangeul orthography, such as components about forms, spacing between words, miscellaneous, and punctuation marks. The purpose of this review is to pursue the simplicity of Hangeul orthography guidelines and the practicality in terms of reflecting more realistic examples. This review contributes to facilitate Korean language usage not only for non-native learners, but also native users. (Hanshin University)