[KS] Writing in Blocks

[??? Gary Rector/Yu]

> If one one wishes 
> to write syllables like CCV or even CCCV in nowadays Hangeul, she/he has
> has to use several blocks of Hangeul, the same problem is with a 
> diphthong "ai" pronouced like English letter "I" which needs two blocks 
> while it is really only one syllable. I heard sometime ago that we could 
> use some kind of "expanded Hangeul" which was described in 
> HunMinJeongEum which would allow us to write like any sound utterable by 
>   a man.
Let's not forget that Hangeul is used only to write Korean, which currently
has no diphthong "ai," nor has it initial consonant clusters (although a case
could be made for called the aspirated stops clusters of C+h). If we decided
to assign arbitrary sound values to Hangeul letters (including modified versions
of them where needed) we could use Hangeul as a sort of "phonetic alphabet"
for transcribing the sounds of other languages, but Koreans have chosen to
use the IPA, modified versions thereof. As for the claim that the "expanded
Hangeul" of the 15th century (it was not described in the HunMinJeongEum)
would allow us to write any utterable sound, all I can say is "Geulsseolssida."
That's just hyperbole.
> One more thing worth mentioning is that Middle Korean which was spoken 
> around King Sejong times was a tonal language and originally Hangeul 
> also carried the information about tones.
> It was made using dots on the left side of syllable blocks.
> No dot meant that the Hangeul syllable had a low tone. One dot to the 
> left of the Hangeul syllable indicated the high tone. For the rising 
> tone, two dots on the left of the Hangeul syllable is marked.
> I think that taking this into consideration could make Hangeul even more 
> powerful and useful writing system.
We have to be careful when we use such terms as "tonal language." It might
be better to say that Middle Korean had a pitch accent, which was for
a while indicated in the writing system, but the need for actually indicating the
pitches was not acutely felt (and the added dots were probably not regarded
as being esthetically pleasing) so the dots were dropped. Of course, that
doesn't mean that the pitch accent suddenly disappeared, too. Actually,
it survives to this day.

Gary Rector