Editing Korean language (section)

=== Writing systems ===
{{See also|Origin of Hangul}}

[[File:Hunminjeongum.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|King Sejong's proclamation of the Hangul script, written in [[Classical Chinese]]]]
The [[Chinese language]], written with [[Chinese characters]] and read with [[Sino-Xenic pronunciations]], was first introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC, and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century.{{sfnp|Lee|Ramsey|2011|pp=111, 287–288}} Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as [[Hanja]]) to write their own language, creating scripts known as [[Idu script|idu]], [[hyangchal]], [[gugyeol]], and gakpil.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hannas|first=Wm C.|title=Asia's Orthographic Dilemma|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1892-0|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C&pg=PA57|year=1997}}</ref>{{sfnp|Cho|Whitman|2020|pp=41–45}} These systems were cumbersome, due to the fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages, and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of the population was illiterate.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In the 15th century King [[Sejong the Great]] personally developed an [[alphabet]]ic [[featural writing system]], known today as [[Hangul]], to promote literacy among the common people.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Koerner|first1=E. F. K.|last2=Asher|first2=R. E.|title=Concise History of the Language Sciences: From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists|publisher=Elsevier|date=2014-06-28|page=54|isbn=978-1-4832-9754-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kim-Renaud |first=Young-Key |title=The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure |date=1997 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824817237 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nonRl2cerIgC&pg=PA15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=ko:알고 싶은 한글 |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/hangeul/setting/002.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218134258/https://www.korean.go.kr/hangeul/setting/002.html |archive-date=18 February 2020 |access-date=4 December 2017 |website= |publisher=[[National Institute of Korean Language]] |language=ko}}</ref> Introduced in the document {{Lang|ko-latn|[[Hunminjeongeum]]}}, it was called {{Lang|ko-latn|eonmun}} ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea.

The Korean alphabet was denounced by the {{Lang|ko-latn|[[yangban]]}} aristocracy, who looked down upon it for being too easy to learn.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ktlit.com/korean-literature-in-translation-chapter-four-the-creation-of-hangeul/ |title=Korean Literature in Translation – Chapter Four: It All Changes! The Creation of Hangul |last=Montgomery |first=Charles |date=19 January 2016 |publisher=KTLit |access-date=2016-04-20 |quote=Hangul was sometimes known as the "language of the inner rooms," (a dismissive term used partly by yangban in an effort to marginalize the alphabet), or the domain of women. |archive-date=8 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508055319/http://www.ktlit.com/korean-literature-in-translation-chapter-four-the-creation-of-hangeul/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Chan |first=Tak-hung Leo|title=One into Many: Translation and the Dissemination of Classical Chinese Literature|date=2003 |publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-9042008151|page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5oPBC2AfgAC&pg=PA183 }}</ref> However, it gained widespread use among the common class<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Korea News Review |date=1 January 1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3m6AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Despite+the+initial+cool+reception,+Hangul+gradually+become+widely+used+by+commoners+in+writing+letters,+poetry+and+other+stories.%22 |access-date=26 December 2016 |publisher=Korea Herald, Incorporated |language=en |title=Korea Newsreview |archive-date=6 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106134712/https://books.google.com/books?id=P3m6AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Despite+the+initial+cool+reception,+Hangul+gradually+become+widely+used+by+commoners+in+writing+letters,+poetry+and+other+stories.%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was widely used to print popular novels which were enjoyed by the common class.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Kenneth B.|title=Korea and East Asia: The Story of a Phoenix|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1997|isbn=978-0-275-95823-7|page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XrZQs-6KswMC&pg=PA90}}</ref> Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices entirely written in Hangul as early as the 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By the 17th century, the {{Lang|ko-latn|yangban}} had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.aks.ac.kr/letter/letterViewer.aspx?datauci=G002+LET+KSM-XF.1692.0000-20140430.B0016_9-010 |title=Archive of Joseon's Hangul letters – A letter sent from Song Gyuryeom to slave Guityuk (1692) |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909112530/http://archive.aks.ac.kr/letter/letterViewer.aspx?datauci=G002+LET+KSM-XF.1692.0000-20140430.B0016_9-010 }}</ref>

In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century, the [[Gabo Reform]] of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese.{{sfnp|Cho|Whitman|2020|p=49}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://korea.assembly.go.kr/history_html/history_07/mod_09.jsp |title=Korean History |publisher=Korea.assembly.go.kr |access-date=2016-04-26 |quote=[[Korean Empire]], Edict No. 1 – All official documents are to be written in Hangul, and not Chinese characters. |archive-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204210419/http://korea.assembly.go.kr/history_html/history_07/mod_09.jsp |url-status=live }}</ref> Some newspapers were published in Hangul, but other publications used [[Korean mixed script]], with Hanja for [[Sino-Korean vocabulary]] and Hangul for other elements.{{sfnp|Sohn|2001|p=145}} North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949, but continues to teach them in schools.{{sfnp|Sohn|2001|p=145}} Their usage in South Korea is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}