(Yonhap Interview) `Hangeul` has worldwide potential: U.S. linguist

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- The Korean alphabet, "Hangeul," has the potential
to replace Roman letters as a global writing system due to its direct correlation
with sounds, says American linguist Robert Ramsey.
"When Koreans say globalization, they really mean English," Ramsey, a professor
of East Asian Linguistics at the University of Maryland, said in an interview
with Yonhap News Agency. "But Hangeul is good enough and much better than that."
"English is very inefficient," said Ramsey, "the more sophisticated, the more
systematic writing system would be the one King Sejong came up with."
A small tribe in Indonesia of 60,000, the Cia Cia, recently became the first
foreign society to adopt the Korean alphabet to preserve its oral language.
The 15th century Korean monarch invented Hangeul with the help of Confucian
scholars, aiming to boost literacy among women and the lower classes who often
did not learn Chinese characters. On Friday, Korea will celebrate the 563rd
birthday of its alphabet.
While different forms of China's notoriously difficult writing system continue to
be used all over East Asia today, Ramsey suggested the simplicity of Hangeul
might actually be applied best in China.
"I think this system will work actually best for Chinese. I think Chinese can
write clearly and simply with the adoption of Hangeul," he said. "But Chinese
will not do that. It's a matter of national pride. They wouldn't do it."
In case of Hangeul, the letters "are all ordered in such a way that these
relationships become clear," Ramsey said. "It shows an understanding of phonology
that I would submit you could not find anywhere else in the world [in the 15th
century]. I think it is quite extraordinary."
The linguist described the "Hunminjeongeum," the Hangeul text created by Sejong
and his scholars, as "an intellectual accomplishment" that "shows how languages
work."
Ramsey noted that the basic consonants in Hangeul model the shape of the mouth
and tongue making the sound. "Other consonant symbols are made by adding strokes
to the basic five shapes and the consonants represented by these more complex
symbols are described as being more severe."
Hangeul "could be used to write any language," Ramsey claimed. "It is possible.
It would work well. But you know other people adopting it is really political. It
could be used but I don't think it will happen because of politics."
In the end, by far the most important thing involved in the invention of Hangeul
was its humanist philosophy, Ramsey said.
"Sejong believed in the education of the common man -- and, yes, the common woman
as well. More than once he wrote of the importance of literacy, urging that even
women and girls be taught to read," he said.
"In Sejong's day, the desire for universal literacy was an anachronism. Most
wielders of power, in fact, even deemed it dangerous to put such a politically
powerful tool as writing in the hands of the people."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)