15
votes
Accepted
How are words in Korean alphabetized/sorted?
Dictionary order is defined in 한글맞춤법 2장 4항
자음(19자) ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
모음(21자) ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
받침(27자) 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 ...
- 1,349
13
votes
Chronology of orthography before and after the separation of North and South Korea
The first orthographic descriptions of Hangul was indeed in Hunminjeongeum, 1443. But the Korean language changed a lot over the centuries, so most of the old descriptions got useless in the Modern ...
- 7,412
13
votes
Accepted
Is there any word that varies in length when written in hanja or hangul?
TL;DR version: While Japanese kanji can be be represented by any number of syllables, Korean hanja always represents a single syllable. Korean words of Chinese origin that have had some sound changes ...
- 308
7
votes
Is there any word that varies in length when written in hanja or hangul?
Every hanja is exactly one syllable, no exceptions. No sound change made hanja pronunciation vary in syllable length since when hanja came to Korea (which was a looong time ago).
- 7,412
6
votes
Accepted
How to spot English loanwords and Hanja words in a text?
I'd say "classical" hanja-eo (based on Middle Chinese eumhun readings) is quite easy to spot, although the accuracy is quite low. You've mentioned certain phonological and phonotactic features; there ...
- 2,378
6
votes
Accepted
Can you use -ㄹ려고 instead of -려고?
If you search "ㄹ려고" in Naver, the 국어사전 (i.e. the Korean to Korean dictionary) says the following:
‘-려고’의 잘못.
In other words, "ㄹ려고" is a mistaken (i.e. incorrect) form of "-...
- 3,934
5
votes
What is the difference between 쇠고기 and 소고기 (both 'beef') - both are correct, but when would I hear one over the other?
소 -> cow
소의 -> cow's
소의고기 -> cows's meet (beef)
However, 소의 generally gets contracted into 쇠. This is due to the combination of vowel sounds (ㅗ at the bottom of 소 and the following 의 sound)
Hence 쇠고기 ...
- 2,954
5
votes
Why do the pronunciation for Vowels assume the Consonant ㅇ?
ㅇ in inital position is now a filler letter for syllables which lack a inital consonant. But it was not 600 years ago.
In 1443, when Hangul was designed, King Sejong, the inventor of Hangul, had made ...
- 7,412
5
votes
Why do the pronunciation for Vowels assume the Consonant ㅇ?
Simply writing ㅐ, ㅡ, or ㅏ is incorrect in terms of how syllable blocks are expected to be written in Korean. All syllable blocks contain a beginning consonant and a vowel (or compound vowel) to follow ...
- 999
5
votes
Accepted
Does North Korean have a minimal pair with palatalization of ㅈ/ㅉ/ㅊ amongst Sino-Korean words?
문화어 is largely based on the early 20th-century central dialect of Korean.
The distinction between 차 and 챠 (처 and 쳐, 쵸 and 초, 자 and 쟈, etc) were already long gone in the central dialect (which includes ...
- 7,412
4
votes
What are some examples of reforms to Hangul proposed in the past?
Horizontal writing (가로쓰기) and spacing (띄어쓰기). It was not a thing.
Also, breaking syllable blocks up just like when you write Latin alphabets (풀어쓰기) was suggested -- not adopted though. Like writing &...
- 2,805
4
votes
Accepted
Korean words whose pronunciation differs unpredictably from the spelling
It depends on the criteria. I have made my own list (separated into 1 and 2) using a programming language and the words contained in the standard dictionary (March 2020), with the following conditions:...
- 3,238
4
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 설렁탕 and 설농탕?
설농탕 is a word used in past. grammatically 설렁탕 is correct. 설농탕 and 설렁탕 have the same meaning overall.
- 58
4
votes
Accepted
Spelling : how can I remember if a consonant is placed as a final '받침' in a block (followed by a null), or as an initial on the next block?
/움지기다/ is written as '움직이다' because:
"‘움직이다’는 시늉말 어근에 ‘-이다’가 붙어서 된 용언이다. 이때는 어원을 밝히어 적는다. 따라서 ‘움직이다’로만 적는다. 출처: 한글 맞춤법 4장 3절 24항" - Naver dictionary
'움직이다' is a verb which is formed by attaching ...
- 7,412
2
votes
Spelling : how can I remember if a consonant is placed as a final '받침' in a block (followed by a null), or as an initial on the next block?
Some tips (?)
I'm not confident enough to claim that these are legitimate tip, but they work for me so far. 움직이다 is the only word I initially thought was weird, because "직이" just didn't feel right ...
- 1,350
2
votes
Accepted
Is this underlining and quoting a standard way of marking names and nicknames in text?
We don't generally underline or quote to mark a person's name. However when we want to emphasize it, it can be underlined, quoted, or marked by dots above the characters, like .
Refer to the Korean ...
- 450
2
votes
Accepted
-럽다 vs -롭다 Suffix Spelling
I think I figured it out. But first you have to know what '양성 모음(positive vowels)' and '음성 모음(negative vowels)' are, with a rule called 모음 조화(vowel harmony). Here are some informations from 국립국어원(...
- 748
2
votes
How to spot English loanwords and Hanja words in a text?
In addition to other good answers, there are also many common syllables that are never used for Hanja, so if you encounter them it's a good sign that the word is not Sino-Korean.
Some of the "gaps" ...
- 7,352
2
votes
Accepted
Were 치두음 and 정치음 ever written iotated?
TL;DR - Sino-Korean, as documented, never used those 치두음/정치음 hangeul jamo.
By the time of Sejong the Great in 1440s, the form of Middle Chinese that was studied (and thus different to the nascent ...
- 2,378
1
vote
Accepted
Where can I find the official “Hangul orthography” and “rules on pronunciations?”
Hangul orthography
Hangul orthography, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, public notice #2017-12 (effective from March 28, 2017.). Here.
A booklet PDF that explains (in Korean) the both
There’s ...
- 2,805
1
vote
What is the difference between 쇠고기 and 소고기 (both 'beef') - both are correct, but when would I hear one over the other?
Those are both the same words as other answers suggest.
In real life, 쇠고기 tends to sound more polite and offical than 소고기.
- 31
1
vote
Is there any word that varies in length when written in hanja or hangul?
I believe that there is a one to one correspondence between hanja to hangul.
i.e. Hangul (sound) whereas hanja the (Chinese character).
- 11
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