LINGUIST List 3.885

Tue 10 Nov 1992

Sum: Korean Alphabet Day

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1. , Korean Alphabet Day: October 9th

Thanks to all of you who responded to my query about the Korean Alphabet Day.
Here is a summary of the information I got:

Korean Alphabet Day (Hangul Nal in Korean) is on October 9th. It commemorates
the publication of the Korean national alphabet, which was invented in 1443
and published in 1446 by King Sejong (Yi dynasty) and a group of scholars
that he entrusted with this task ("Institute of Correct Sounds").
 The unique feature of the Korean alphabet is that it is directly iconic.
The basic shapes of the consonants are based on the shapes of the speech organs
when the sounds are being pronounced. Even distinctive features were
recognized. It is thus a superb achievement of linguistic science, anticipating
modern phonology by several centuries.
 Since the Korean alphabet is so much easier to learn than the Chinese
characters that had been the only writing system before, The Korean alphabet
(Hangul) also had the effect of democratizing writing.
Hangul Day was observed as a national holiday in Korea for several decades,
but, deplorably, it was abolished last year by the authorities.
 In Chicago, Hangul Day is an important event for the linguistics community,
because Jim McCawley holds a Hangul Day party every year, with lots of Korean,
Japanese and Chinese food.
 Wouldn't it be a good idea to follow the example of Chicago and make
Hangul Day the (so to speak) World Linguistics Day?
(A colleague of mine here in Berlin has been celebrating Pentecost as the
"linguists' holiday", but I think that's much less appropriate, because
(i) Pentecost is a Christian and therefore not universal holiday, and (ii)
it is more properly the holiday of polyglots than the holiday of linguists.)

Thanks again to Ho Han, Beom-mo Kang, Lori Piper, Dave Kathman, Stephen
Spackman, injachobrahms.udel.edu, doconnelirlearn.ucd.ie.

Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin