Introduction | Understanding Hunminjeongeum (Hangeul): Core Principles Behind the Korean Writing System

The basic vowels in Hangeul were created based on the fundamental concepts of heaven (천, cheon), earth (지, ji), and human (인, in). This philosophical framework is known as "Cheon-Ji-In" (천지인, 天地人), which literally means "Heaven-Earth-Human" in Korean.

These basic characters (ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅣ) were combined to create various vowels.

Hands-on Practice: Writing Hangeul on Your Phone

Now that we've learned about the basic principles of Hangeul vowels, let's try writing them ourselves! Modern technology makes it easy to practice writing Korean - you can start right now with your cellphone. Here's how to set up Korean input on your device:

iOS Version

Step 1

Go to [Settings] → [Keyboard].

Step 2

In [Keyboard], select ‘Add New Keyboard’ and add ‘Korean’.

Step 3

Choose ‘10-Key’ for the Korean keyboard.

Step 4 Open an app like Messages or Notes and try typing in Hangeul.

The basic consonants in Hangeul were designed based on the shape of human speech organs. The shapes of the characters were created to visually represent where the sound is produced in the mouth or throat.

[참고] Unlike vowels, consonants are produced by obstructing the flow of air in various ways and at different positions in the vocal tract. The locations of these obstructions vary depending on the language. In Korean, there are five key points where air is obstructed. King Sejong modeled the shapes of the consonants after the appearance of these speech organs at each point of obstruction.

In the book Hunminjeongeum, King Sejong explained an important rule: when making consonants, adding extra lines (strokes) to a basic letter makes its sound stronger. This design principle (正音制字尙其象, 因聲之厲每加劃) helped create a clear connection between how a letter looks and how it sounds.

For example: ㄱ (basic sound) → ㅋ (stronger sound with extra stroke) ㄷ (basic sound) → ㅌ (stronger sound with extra stroke)

Some consonants are made in the same part of the mouth but have completely different shapes. These are called "variant characters" (이체자). Unlike the previous rule of adding strokes, these characters were given unique shapes to show special sounds.

For example:

• ㄴ and ㄹ: Both are made with your tongue, but ㄹ has a totally different shape because it represents a rolling sound
• ㄱ and ㆁ(old Korean): Both are made at the back of your mouth, but they had different shapes because they made different sounds

This design principle (象舌齒之形而異其體) shows how King Sejong created special letters for special sounds, even when they were made in the same place in the mouth.

In Hunminjeongeum, it is explained that consonant characters can be written side by side (各自並書)—either repeating the same character or combining different ones (合用並書).

In modern Korean, each syllable block is made up of different parts. When writing a Korean syllable, we can put consonants in two important positions:

1. At the beginning of the syllable (initial position, called '초성')
• Example: In '한', 'ㅎ' is in the initial position
2. At the end of the syllable (final position, called '종성')
• Example: In '한', 'ㄴ' is in the final position

Some interesting rules about these positions:

• In the initial position, we can double the same consonant (like ㄱ→ㄲ)
• In the final position, we can use either one consonant or combine two different ones (like 값 = ㅂ+ㅅ)