Editing Hanja (section)

===Adaptation of ''hanja'' to Korean===
The Chinese language, however, was quite different from the Korean language, consisting of terse, often monosyllabic words with a strictly analytic, SVO structure in stark contrast to the generally polysyllabic, very synthetic, SOV structure, with various grammatical endings that encoded person, levels of politeness and case found in Korean.  Despite the adoption of literary Chinese as the written language, Chinese never replaced Korean as the spoken language, even amongst the scholars who had immersed themselves in its study.

The first attempts to make literary Chinese texts more accessible to Korean readers were ''{{transliteration|ko|hanmun}}'' passages written in Korean word order.  This would later develop into the ''[[gugyeol]]'' ({{Korean|hangul=구결|hanja=口訣|labels=no}}) or 'separated phrases,' system.  Chinese texts were broken into meaningful blocks, and in the spaces were inserted ''hanja'' used to represent the sound of native Korean grammatical endings.  As literary Chinese was very terse, leaving much to be understood from context, the insertion of occasional verbs and grammatical markers helped to clarify the meaning.  For instance, the ''hanja'' '{{lang|ko|爲}}' was used for its native Korean gloss whereas '{{lang|ko|尼}}' was used for its Sino-Korean pronunciation, and combined into '{{lang|ko|爲尼}}' and read {{Transliteration|ko|hani}} ({{lang|ko|하니}}), 'to do (and so).'<ref>Li, Y. (2014). ''The Chinese Writing System in Asia: An Interdisciplinary Perspective.'' Chapter 10. New York, NY: Routledge Press.</ref> In Chinese, however, the same characters are read in Mandarin as the expression {{Transliteration|cmn|wéi ní}}, meaning 'becoming a nun'. This is a typical example of Gugyeol words where the radical '{{linktext|爲}}' is read in Korean for its meaning ({{Transliteration|ko|hă}}—'to do'), whereas the suffix '{{linktext|尼}}', {{Transliteration|ko|ni}} (meaning 'nun'), is used phonetically. Special symbols were sometimes used to aid in the reordering of words in an approximation of Korean grammar.  It was similar to the {{lang|ja-latn|[[kanbun]]}} ({{lang|ja|漢文}}) system developed in Japan to render Chinese texts.  The system was not a translation of Chinese into Korean, but an attempt to make Korean speakers knowledgeable in ''hanja'' to overcome the difficulties in interpreting Chinese texts.  Although it was developed by scholars of the early [[Goryeo]] Kingdom (918–1392), {{Transliteration|ko|gugyeol}} was of particular importance during the Joseon period, extending into the first decade of the twentieth century, since all civil servants were required to be able to read, translate and interpret Confucian texts and commentaries.<ref name="Nam">Nam, P. (1994). 'On the Relations between Hyangchal and Kwukyel' in ''The Theoretical Issues in Korean Linguistics''. Kim-Renaud, Y. (ed.) (pp. 419–424.) Stanford, CA: Leland Stanford University Press.</ref>

[[File:Korean book-Jikji-Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters-1377.jpg|thumb|right|The Korean ''Baegun Hwasang Chorok Buljo [[Jikji]] Simche Yojeol'' ({{Korean|hangul=백운화상초록불조직지심체요절|hanja=白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節|labels=no}}) or roughly 'Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings Copied by Monk Baegun' is the oldest example of a book printed with moveable type and was printed in Korea in 1377, but is written in literary Chinese.]]
The first attempt at transcribing Korean in ''hanja'' was the ''[[idu script|idu]]'' ({{Korean|hangul=이두|hanja=吏讀|labels=no}}), or 'official reading,' system that began to appear after 500 AD.  In this system, the ''hanja'' were chosen for their equivalent native Korean gloss.  For example, the ''hanja'' '{{lang|ko|不冬}}' signifies 'no winter' or 'not winter' and has the formal Sino-Korean pronunciation of '{{lang|ko|부동}}' {{Transliteration|ko|budong}}, similar to [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] {{Transliteration|cmn|bù dōng}}.  Instead, it was read as {{Transliteration|ko|andeul}} '{{lang|ko|안들}}' which is the Middle Korean pronunciation of the characters' native gloss and is the ancestor to modern {{Transliteration|ko|anneunda}} '{{lang|ko|않는다}}', 'do not' or 'does not.'  The various {{Transliteration|ko|idu}} conventions were developed in the Goryeo period but were particularly associated with the ''[[chungin|jung-in]]'' ({{Korean|hangul=중인|hanja=中人|labels=no}}), the upper middle class of the early Joseon period.<ref name="Hannas">Hannas, W. C. (1997). ''Asia's Orthographic Dilemma''. O`ahu, HI: University of Hawai`i Press. pp. 55–64.</ref>

A subset of ''{{Transliteration|ko|idu}}'' was known as ''[[hyangchal]]'' ({{Korean|hangul=향찰|hanja=鄕札|labels=no}}), 'village notes,' and was a form of ''{{Transliteration|ko|idu}}'' particularly associated with the ''[[hyangga]]'' ({{Korean|hangul=향가|hanja=鄕歌|labels=no}}) the old poetry compilations and some new creations preserved in the first half of the Goryeo period when its popularity began to wane.<ref name="Taylor"/>  In the {{Transliteration|ko|hyangchal}} or 'village letters' system, there was free choice in how a particular ''hanja'' was used.  For example, to indicate the topic of Princess Seonhwa, a daughter of King [[Jinpyeong of Silla]] was recorded as '{{lang|ko|善化公主主隱}}' in ''{{Transliteration|ko|hyangchal}}'' and was read as ({{lang|ko|선화공주님은}}), ''seonhwa gongju-nim-eun'' where '{{lang|ko|善化公主}}' is read in Sino-Korean, as it is a Sino-Korean name and the Sino-Korean term for 'princess' was already adopted as a loan word.  The ''hanja'' '{{lang|ko|主隱}},' however, was read according to their native pronunciation but was not used for its literal meaning signifying 'the prince steals' but to the native postpositions '{{lang|ko|님}}' {{Transliteration|ko|nim}}, the honorific marker used after professions and titles, and '{{lang|ko|은}}' {{Transliteration|ko|eun}}, the topic marker. In [[Korean mixed script|mixed script]], this would be rendered as '{{lang|ko|善化公主님은}}'.<ref name="Hannas"/><ref name="Nam"/>

Hanja was the sole means of writing Korean until King [[Sejong the Great]] invented and tried to promote [[Hangul]] in the 15th century. Even after the invention of Hangul, however, most Korean scholars continued to write in ''{{transliteration|ko|hanmun}}'', although Hangul did see considerable popular use. ''{{Transliteration|ko|Idu}}'' and its ''{{Transliteration|ko|hyangchal}}'' variant were mostly replaced by mixed-script writing with ''hangul'' although ''{{Transliteration|ko|idu}}'' was not officially discontinued until 1894 when reforms abolished its usage in administrative records of civil servants. Even with ''{{Transliteration|ko|idu}}'', most literature and official records were still recorded in literary Chinese until 1910.<ref name="Hannas"/><ref name="Nam"/>