Hangul is a featural alphabet of 24 consonant and vowel letters. However, instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latin alphabet, Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, such as 한 han, each of which transcribes a syllable.
The alphabetical order of Hangul does not mix consonants and vowels as the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabets do. Rather, the order is that of the Indic type, first velar consonants, then coronals, labials, sibilants, etc. However, the vowels come after the consonants rather than interspersed between them as in the Indic systems.
Historical Orders
The consonantal order of theHunmin Jeongeumin 1446 was,
- ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ
and the order of vowels was,
- ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ
In 1527,Choe Sejinreorganized the alphabet:
- ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㆁ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅈ ㅊ ㅿ ㅇ ㅎ
- ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㆍ
This is the basis of the modern alphabetic orders. It was before the development of the Korean tense consonants and the double letters that represent them, and before the conflation of the letters ㅇ (null) and ㆁ (ng). Thus when theSouth KoreanandNorth Koreangovernments implemented full use of Hangul, they ordered these letters differently, with South Korea grouping similar letters together, and North Korea placing new letters at the end of the alphabet.
South Korean order
In the Southern order, double letters are placed immediately after their single counterparts. No distinction is made between silent and nasal ㅇ:
- ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
- ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
The modernmonophthongalvowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: first addedi, then iotized, then iotized with addedi. Diphthongsbeginning withware ordered according to their spelling, as ㅗ or ㅜ plus a second vowel, not as separatedigraphs.
The order of the final letters (받침) is,
- (none) ㄱ ㄲ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
("None" means there is no final letter.)
Every word begins with a consonant that is followed by a vowel (ex. ㄷ + ㅏ = 다). Some words have a final consonant (받침), such as "달" and "닭". Then, there are a total of 399 possible combinations for "two-letter words" and 10 773 possible combinations for words with more than two "letters" (27 possible final endings, 받침), for a total of 11 172 possible combinations of Hangul "letters" to form characters.
North Korean order
North Korea maintains a more traditional order:
- ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ
ㅇ used as an initial, goes at the very end, as it is a placeholder for the vowels which follow. (A syllable with no final is ordered before all syllables with finals, however, not with null ㅇ.)
The new, double, letters are placed at the end of the consonants, just before the null ㅇ, so as not to alter the traditional order of the rest of the alphabet.
The order of the vowel letters is,
- ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ
All digraphs andtrigraphs, including the old diphthongs ㅐ and ㅔ, are placed after the simple vowels, again maintaining Choe's alphabetic order.
The order of the final letters is,
- (none) ㄱ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㅆ
Unlike when it is initial, this ㅇ is pronounced, as the nasal ㅇng,which occurs only as a final in the modern language. The double letters are placed to the very end, as in the initial order, but the combined consonants are ordered immediately after their first element.
Related Articles
- About Hangul 한글
- Letter Design
- Letter Names
- Sorting Order
