Origin from 1443
Hangul is the native script of the Korean language, promulgated in 1443 by King Sejong the Great and published in 1446 in the document Hunminjeongeum, meaning the correct sounds for the instruction of the people. Almost uniquely among the world's major scripts, Hangul has a genuinely attested single inventor and a stated invention date and rationale: the Hunminjeongeum's preface explains the script was designed so that ordinary people, who had been effectively illiterate under classical Chinese characters, could easily learn to read and write their own language within days. Its letters are featural, their shapes designed to iconically represent the shape of the mouth, tongue and teeth in producing each sound, and they are grouped into syllable blocks for writing rather than strung letter by letter as in the Latin alphabet.
Facts
Script TypeHangul is more precisely described by linguists as a featural alphabet, a category most classification schemes, including this ones, do not distinguish from an ordinary alphabet. DirectionalityTraditionally written top to bottom in vertical columns read right to left, alongside the now-standard horizontal left-to-right layout. In Use Since (Year) Connections
Associated With
This source names Latin directly: "than strung letter by letter as in the Latin alphabet."
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Influenced By
Why this is disputed. Scholars debate how much other scripts influenced Hangul's original design; Chinese-character influence on the syllable block format is the least disputed of the hypotheses.
Source Wikipedia: Hangul
Script Of
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Sources
1. Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Wikipedia: Hangul
Influenced By: Han Script, Hangul, article body (creation and design discussion)Quote, Influenced By: Han Script, Hangul, article body (creation and design discussion)
Chinese characters almost certainly had some influence on Hangul's design, for example in the syllable block format.
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