Machine derived contents note: List of Tables and Illustrations xvii
1. A Treasure Waiting to Be Discovered 1
2. Historical Periodization of the Korean Language 3
A. Korean in Prehistoric Times 3
I. The Origins of Chinese Characters 3
II. The Limitations of Chinese Characters 7
B. Historical Significance of the Creation of
Hangeul 13
I. Origins of Hangeul 13
II. Creating Hangeul 17
III. The Roots of Modern Hangeul Orthography 27
IV. The Advent of Attested Korean Language
History 30
V. The Beginnings of a True Korean Literature 33
C. An Age of Exclusive Hangeul Usage 35
I. The Gabo Reforms and Western Influence 35
II. Ju Si-gyeong''s Epiphany 38
III. The Contribution of the Korean Language
Society 41
IV. The Bible and Hangeul 44
3. Special Features of Hangeul 50
A. Hangeul and Korean: A Perfect Fit 50
I. The Uniqueness of Hangeul 50
II. The Mass Appeal of Hangeul 54
B. The Generative Power of Hangeul 55
C. Harmonizing Ideal and Reality 56
D. Sound-expressive Qualities That Surpass the Roman
Alphabet 61
E. Paragon of World Writing Systems 63
I. Stages in the Development of Writing Systems 63
II. Featural writing 67
4. The Dream of a Hangeul Cultural Sphere 70
A. Reinforcing the Sound-expressive Qualities of
Hangeul 71
B. Computerization of Hangeul 78
I. The Keyboard Problem 80
II. The Problem of Computational Codes 81
III. The Problem of Hangeul Typography 96
IV. The Problem of a National Standard 104
V. Koreanizing Computers 106
C. Pureosseugi: Linearizing Hangeul 107
I. The Advantages of Pureosseugi 108
II. Slanted and Linearized Hangeul (Hangeul
giuryeo pureosseugi) 117
D. Potential as another International Phonetic
Alphabet 118
5. Hangeul Today 122
References 128
Appendix 1 A Hangeul Chronology 134
Appendix 2 Hunmin jeong-eum (photo) 143.