Hangul Orthography on this Site

The Korean pages on this site are written in Modern Korean with a slight difference. This page is going to provide a detailed explanation of this orthography.

Contents

-I- General Principles
-II- Alphabet
-III- Vowel Harmony

-I- General Principles

1.	All the Sino-Korean words are written with Chinese characters.

Most languages in the Altaic Sprachbund, including Middle Korean, exhibit strict vowel harmony. However, the vowel harmony in Modern Korean has largely vanished. To render vowel harmony visible when writing native words, on the basis of restoring some Vowel Jamo letters from Middle Korean, the vowel spellings of some words are adjusted. This practice is not meant to modify the actual pronunciation; its sole purpose is to retain vowel harmony as fully as possible in written form, while enabling lossless conversion to Modern Korean following a fixed set of rules. This orthographic system is comparable to the Japanese historical kana orthography.

3.	All other contents, except the items mentioned above, shall be uniformly written in accordance with the current Hangul orthography.

-II- Alphabet

4.	For the Leading Jamo letters and the Trailing Jamo letters, the same alphabet and the same order as the current Hangul orthography are used. For the Vowel Jamo letters, the alphabet is extended to 23 letters, while the order is as follows: ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㆍ ㆎ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ

-III- Vowel Harmony

When {ㅏ} in an initial syllable in Modern Korean originates from {ㆍ} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆍ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
󿆑다	밝다	󿇈리	빨리
󿀙다	같다	󿏰나	하나
󿈂다	삶다	󿇸랑	사랑

However, when it is also {ㅏ} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅏ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
살다	󿈀다	딸기	󿃨기
남다	󿂀다	낚시	󿁲시
잡다	󿊱다	나라	󿁰라

When {ㅐ} in an initial syllable in Modern Korean originates from {ㆎ} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆎ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
󿅽다	맵다	󿈩각	생각

However, when it is also {ㅐ} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅐ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
내다	󿂌다	개미	󿀜미

When {ㅡ} in a non-initial syllable in Modern Korean originates from {ㆍ} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆍ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
바󿄘다	바르다	가󿈈	가슴
󿊰󿀀다	잠그다	󿅐󿉰	마을
고󿎸다	고프다	모󿂬	모든

However, when it is also {ㅡ} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅡ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
거르다	거󿄘다	여든	여󿂬
슬프다	슬󿎸다	그릇	그󿄫
무느다	무󿁰다	구슬	구󿈀

When {ㅣ} in a non-initial syllable in Modern Korean originates from {ㆎ} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆎ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
󿂽󿀜다	당기다	소󿄴	소리

However, when it is also {ㅣ} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅣ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
생기다	생󿀜다	자리	자󿄴

When {ㅣ} in Modern Korean originates from {ㅢ} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㅢ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
엉긔다	엉기다	어디	어듸
견듸다	견디다	기믜	기미
킈우다	키우다	싀원	시원

However, when it is also {ㅣ} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅣ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
꾸미다	꾸믜다	머리	머릐
그리다	그릐다	제비	제븨
지우다	즤우다	기름	긔름

10.

When {무/부/뿌/푸} in a non-initial syllable in Modern Korean originates from {󿅐/󿆈/󿇀/󿎸} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆍ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
아󿅘다	아물다	󿇸󿅣	사뭇

When {무/부/뿌/푸} in Modern Korean originates from {므/브/쁘/프} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㅡ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
므겁다	무겁다	므게	무게
더블다	더불다	브엌	부엌
베플다	베풀다	수플	수풀

However, when it is also {무/부/뿌/푸} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅜ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
묵히다	믁히다	무릎	므릎
뿌옇다	쁘옇다	거북	거븍
풍기다	픙기다	뿌리	쁘리

11.

When {루/우} at the end in Modern Korean originates from {󿄘/󿉨} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㆍ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
󿏰󿄘	하루	아󿉨	아우

When {루/우} at the end in Modern Korean originates from {르/으} of Middle Korean, it shall be written as {ㅡ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
그르	그루	여으	여우

However, when it is also {루/우} in Middle Korean, it shall be still written as {ㅜ}. (A adopted, B discarded.)

A	B	A	B
거루	거르	무우	무으

12.	For compound words, the concepts for initial syllables and ends must be considered separately for each root.

13.

For particles or suffixes, if a vowel harmony exists in Middle Korean, the harmony shall be performed based on the gender of the vowel in the last syllable of the root.

Masculine Vowels: ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㆍ ㆎ

Feminine Vowels: ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ

Type of Particles/Suffixes	M. Form	F. Form
Genitive Case Particle	󿊄	의
Accusative Case Particle	󿉰/󿄠	을/를
Dative Case Particle	애	에
Instrumental Case Particle	󿉨로	으로
Ablative Case Particle	애서	에서
Topic Particle	󿉬/󿁴	은/는
Ending Suffix	-󿈉니다	-습니다
Ending Suffix	-󿉹시다	-읍시다
Ending Suffix	-󿉬가/-󿁴가	-은가/-는가
Ending Suffix	-󿁴다	-는다
Ending Suffix	-󿁰냐	-느냐
Ending Suffix	-아요	-어요
Connecting Suffix	-󿉨나	-으나
Connecting Suffix	-󿉬데/-󿁴데	-은데/-는데
Conversion Suffix	-󿉸	-음
Pre-final Suffix	-았-	-었-

However, if a vowel harmony also does not exist in Middle Korean, it shall be written totally the same as in the current Hangul orthography.

14.	When vowel harmony is needed, if the vowel in the last syllable of the root is the neutral vowel {ㅣ}, the preceding syllable shall be taken into account, and the process shall be carried out sequentially in this manner. If all the vowels of the root are neutral, a feminine form shall be used.

15.

In the conjugation of verbs or adjectives, certain vowel-ending roots may contract with suffixes.

Type of Vowels	Examples
ㅏ(ㅑ/ㅘ)	가다 + -아 = 가아 → 가
ㅓ(ㅕ/ㅝ)	서다 + -어 = 서어 → 서
ㅐ(ㅒ/ㅙ)	내다 + -아 = 내아 → 내
ㅔ(ㅖ/ㅞ)	데다 + -어 = 데어 → 데
ㅗ(ㅛ)	보다 + -아 = 보아 → 봐
ㅜ(ㅠ)	주다 + -어 = 주어 → 줘
ㅚ	괴다 + -아 = 괴아 (Contraction Prohibited)
ㅟ	쉬다 + -어 = 쉬어 (Contraction Prohibited)
ㆍ	󿎀다 + -아 = 󿎀아 → 타
ㅡ	크다 + -어 = 크어 → 커
ㆎ	󿌬다 + -아 = 󿌬아 (Contraction Prohibited)
ㅢ	희다 + -어 = 희어 (Contraction Prohibited)
ㅣ	반기다 + -아 = 반기아 → 반갸 적시다 + -어 = 적시어 → 적셔

16.	In the conjugation of {󿏰다}, the suffix {-아} changes to {-야}. When {󿏰야} is contracted, it is still written as {해}.