Korean Punctuation Systems
Jeon Kyung LEE
Yonsei University ljk0201@gmail .com
Abstract
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Ključne besede:
Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 4(1), 2014. ISSN: 2232-3317, http://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/ DOI: 10.4312/ala.4.1.29-41
1. Introduction
Written texts in Korea have 2000 years of history. These texts vary in form, ranging from epigraphs and wooden and stone inscriptions to paper books. Many marks and Chinese characters are used in these texts.
Some marks are still applied in the same form but most of them are not. Traditional Korean writing system underwent drastic changes from the 19th to 20th centuries, in that during this time, along with Chinese characters and Hanguel, Roman alphabets and Japanese Kana letters were used as well. The end of the 19th century in Korea also saw the import of the western writing direction and punctuation marks.
Some magazines and newspapers played significant roles in the influx of the western punctuation marks. Especially, the publication of Dongnip Sinmun [The Independent News] spurred the burgeoning use of the western punctuation marks, and it contributed to the imported punctuation marks being included in the Draft of Unified Korean Spelling System in 1933. Modern Korean punctuation marks were influenced from Modern Chinese and Japanese punctuation marks. The standardization of the Korean punctuation has been executed several times, and by now it is organized into seven categories of functions with twenty marks, quite similar to the western punctuation.
However, as the standardization process progressed, the traditional Korean punctuation named Kudujeom	^ M ^) steadily lost its ground as a
punctuation system, and now even its vestige is barely found in the current Korean punctuation. New marks, including <, >, v, ex[e.g.],	have been employed by
Koreans in their daily communication, and these marks work as lexical designators or as carriers of the writer's intentions or sentiments, just as many of traditional Korean punctuation marks did so. Therefore, I believe that investigating the old marks and comparing them with these new marks will provide us with the opportunity to reexamine the legacy and efficacy of punctuation systems.
1.1 Korean Punctuation in Ancient Times (~7th century)
Most of Korean texts in ancient times were administrative documents, which consisted of Chinese characters. Even though many documents about history or governance were left on gravestones, these texts show direct physical differences in word spacing and changing the paragraph, but does not show the use of specific marks. Recently, hundreds of wooden documents were excavated and have been studied, which show that some form of marks were used to separate paragraphs or different elements.
Division lines for separating paragraphs, as seen in oracle bone scripts, can be seen in Korean wooden documents. Punctuation marks found in wooden documents were not only Inversions Mark(V) introduced by Lee (2002) but also topic indicator (,l h '), text indicator '—, by Lee (2006), item indicator (S) <Picture 1> and 'o, V, —. O,
I' by Son (2011). Besides these, Paragraph distinguisher '•' and repetition marker '=' have many examples (Lee (2005):1-17). Such as '•, —, =, V'were used in common throughout the East Asia1. Among these '—' is a simple line separating different elements (Picture 2). 'style or ' T'style of elements indicator (Picture 3) and '0' of deletion and correction marks were used in common throughout the East Asia. The former, which indicates either the overlapped elements or confirmed content, might be used as confirmation marks in administrative documents. '0' was used in Silla village documents to indicate corrections or deletions (Picture 4). These two marks were continued to be used even after the medieval times.
Picture 1-4 (left to right): Punctuation marks in wooden documents.
Like this, all the ancient documents were transcribed and had a basic purpose of reporting. Therefore, it was important to deliver the truth or the fact without any misinterpretation with limited methods. This is a way to increase efficiency of administrative reports and commercial reports under lack of mastery of Chinese characters. The punctuation marks for separating paragraphs or marking different elements were a requirement in this era. Thus, in the ancient documents, marks other than those that represents correction or omission of repetitive letters were not found for several reasons. Above all, there aren't many wooden documents found to be studied. Also, marks that separates texts or distinguishes different elements such as lines or dots are more significant because the text strived for simplicity and clarity.
1 Marks such as '•, —, =, V' appear in the wooden documents of Qin Dynasty in China. Each of them has its own function: paragraph distinguisher, boundary marker, repetition marker, and Inversions mark.
1.2 Punctuation in the Middle Ages (10~15th century)
As discussed earlier, the number of punctuation marks were not diverse in the early stage of the development of the writing system. It can be assumed that the punctuation marks developed from the unit of a word to the unit of sentences. After the medieval time, punctuation marks take role as an aid for learning as well as the document reporting. Various signs and marks were developed for the purpose of learning and interpretation of the Chinese characters. Great number of punctuation marks appeared regarding sentence structure, separation, and correction as well as supplement marks for translation into Korean.
As Koryeo Dynasty(10~14th century) imposed the public examination system, studying Chinese characters became essential to the ruling class. Koreans invented Kugyeol to understand and study Chinese character texts better. It is one type of borrowed character writing system, which is made to interpret Chinese character text. The place where the Kugyeol is marked is the space between the lines of Chinese character text, and is where punctuation mark is marked.
Currently, Kugyeol is recognized as a letter in Korea. However, Kugyeol, added to Chinese text, worked as punctuation marks. Chinese character was 'Lingua Franka' in East Asia, Kugyeol letters was used merely as interpretative marks to understand Chinese text. Before inventing Hanguel (Korean writing system), the fact that Kugyeol character had never been used independently to write Korean sentences shows that Koreans did not regard Kugyeol as a whole character.
A Korean proper noun of Kugyeol is Ipgyeot, which means 'reading postposition'. Idu, a borrowed character writing system, was used in the administrative documents to write Korean sentences, which means 'formula postposition' and works instead of Chinese character's punctuation marks. Along with Kugyeol, many kinds of punctuation marks have emerged, and interpretative marks (Table 1) were used widely.
YU(1989), Lee(1995), Lee(2002) studied traditional punctuation marks. These punctuation marks can be categorized by functions and editions as in Table1. Punctuation marks working in text unit were widely used regardless of being printed or scripted.
Table 1: The Korean traditional punctuation
Unit	Mark	Name	Function	Printed/ Written	Other ways of markin g
Text Unit	o	wongweon BH	dividingtexts and indicating elements	printed	Changing line
	i	Eummun	dividingtexts,indicating elements, andemphasizing	printed	
		Kwanju	Indicating main topic, andemphasizing	written	
	•	Pi-jeom ffiK(^K)	Indicatingsub topic, andemphasizing	written	
Sente nce Unit	o	Saseong-jeom	Marking intonation (of Chinese characters)	printed, written	
	o	Korit-jeom	Dividing sentences and phrases	printed, written	
	•	Pang-jeom ^^	Marking intonation (of Korean expression)	printed	
	1	Chageodeup-phyo	Marking the same letters	printed, written	
	1	Keochim-phyo	Marking confirmation	written	
	—	Mukeum-phyo ^wÄ	Combining different elements	written	
	o	Kium-phyo A^)	Insertion and correction	written	A
	D	Sakjebu ^^^	Deletion	written	
	o	Keokjabu ^^	Spacing	written	8
	space	Kongkyeok ^	Marking honorific	printed, written	9MM
Punctuation marks working in text unit were widely used regardless of being printed or scripted. Correction marks working in sentence unit were mostly reported, and appear in various ways. '◦' (koritjeom) or 'o' (weongweon), which were used frequently, have various functions. '◦' (koritjeom) can be used as phrase or sentence mark based on where it is placed in a sentence, and marking intonation based on which part of Chinese character is marked. Also, 'o' (weongweon) is used to distinguish Chinese text from Eonhe (Korean translation text). It can also be used to separate elements and marking spacing. The tendency to use few marks efficiently triggers several changes in the traditional punctuation marks. However, traditional punctuation marks were used as it was suggested in printed documents because the use of these was normative.
Along with Kugeol, numerous numbers of marks were used to aid Kugeol letters in order to help people understand contents in Kugyeol text more clearly. Generally, Kugyeol is used as a terminology that encompasses all the Chinese character interpretation law. Indeed, several different marking systems are used in Kugeo. Based on these systems, Kugyeol can be grouped into Chinese character Kugyeol, Hangeul Kugyeol, and cheomto (code) Kugyeol. Moreover, genuine marks which cannot be replaced to language immediately are also included in a marking system. Kugeol system that function as a help to understand and interpret sentences. Table 2 shows those interpretative marks in Kugeol text.
Table 2: The Marks in Kugeol text2
Name	Form	Function	distribution
Happu	/, |	One word mark	chato, cheomto
Yeokdokjeom ^^^	•	Interpret order	Chato
Yeokdokseon ^^^	\, /, |	Interpret order	cheomto
Chisiseon ^^^	\, /	Interpret order	cheomto
Chungbokseon	\, /	Duplication of code	cheomto
Kyeonggeson ^^^		Boundary of character	cheomto
Pochungseon	—	Supplement of verb	cheomto
Sulmokkubunseon	—	Boundary indicator of verb and object	cheomto
Pichimseon ^^^	\, /	Interpretation indicatorsuch as'S'	cheomto
2 It can be seen that marks of cheomto-kugyeol appear a lot more than marks of chato-kugyeol among many marks in <table2>. It is why the former-it is code- needs more complementary marks.
Additionally, other various punctuation marks appear in some documents. Reading order marks are commonly known (Table 2). The reading orders of Chinese character were marked as	H, '. Correction marks are also a common form (Picture 5).
Further there is a small Koritjeom located on the upper part of 'S', and a small H is marked on the right side as a correction (Picture 6). Sometimes, Koritjeom is marked on the right side of the letter being corrected, and corrected letter is written at the margins of a book. Often, people write their own marks instead of ordinary punctuation marks in order to distinguish boundary of sentences (Picture 7). The form of having tail on '8' is written on both upper and lower side of repeated	It is assumed that in
order to eliminate a possibility of misinterpreting, they used the mark in addition to an interrogative ending'I ' even though a boundary of sentence between	can be
indicated by using only an interrogative ending'It indicated the sentence that the letter belong to by drawing lines on the upper and lower side of '8'.3
Picture 5-7 (left to right): Examples of uncommon punctuation marks.
1.3 From Traditional Punctuation Systems to Modern Ones
The western style of Korean punctuation marks have been expanded through the public education and press media as the western punctuation system was introduced through Japan.
r	Chinmokhwe-hwebo J (1896) 4 and T
SinjeongsimsangsohakJ (1896)5 are the first instances of using the western punctuation marks, and these are deeply related to Japan.6
3	This can be completely different meaning. A mark that looks like 8 is connected is called Kwanju or Yeongweon. The mark is mostly used to mark a beginning or a topic of a text.
4	A social magazine for Korean students who study in Japan.
Picture 8: Western punctuation marks firstly used.
(1)
(2) TO • o ^hmki^ • ^k • • M „ • „	7] 2. s.^0] o.^.
TO • • ^	4 • ^Tll.. ril ^ „ . „ - . 01 (1896, r
14)
There is possibility that western punctuation marks were used much earlier than in Christian religion related book,	Korean-English Dictionary] (Picture 9),
written by Underwood in 1890) can be found in other documents that have not been studied yet. It is important to know that this is the time when both the traditional punctuation marks and the western punctuation marks were used together because Chinese punctuation marks are printed as they were in our wooden written Taoism
5	(Picture 8) A textbook published by the Ministry of Education (Hakbu) of The Great Korean Empire.
6	In the introduction, r^^^	Sinjeongsimsangsohakj was explained as a text book made by a Japanese editor - actually when two textbooks are compared, the place where punctuation marks were used are almost coincide with each other. (Kim,1980)
scripture, [ ^^^^ Namgunggejeok (1876) J . The use of punctuation marks appear far later in Bible, which was more accessible to the public, than dictionaries.
Picture 9: Korean-English Distionary from year 1890.
(1), (2) were both affected by Japanese printing system which used punctuation marks even before the translated Christian Bible which was influenced by western culture. After that, koritjeom (» ) and mojeom (^ ) have been used variously in many newspapers and magazines, and then, the magazine [ Changjo J (1919) (Picture 9) used spacing between words, question marks and exclamation marks. (Won, 2010).
Picture 10: Punctuation marks used in magazines.
xi Si:]-^	^	öll ^	.........
öj-öj-^l]	^1]	^	Avr^v^ o	few^l-ol.
Pl-fe.Hü öl	ö^^^
Changjoj)
The punctuation marks used in magazines in this era were based on writers' preferences and writing styles rather than certain rules. Magazines in this era showed completely different aspects based on editors. Also, different writers and different pieces show different use of punctuation marks even in the same magazines. This shows that rules of using punctuation marks were not established at the time. As punctuation marks were used in newspapers and magazines like Independent News, people started to recognize punctuation marks. Then, there were attempts to standardize them in textbooks and grammar documents. (Pictures 8~12) show the diversity of layout as well as the usage of the punctuation marks during this time. Finally, punctuation marks had been established as one unified rule in (Draft for the Unified Spelling System of Hanguel). Current Korean punctuation marks are based on several editions of western punctuation marks enacted in Draft	Current rules of punctuation marks have
basically adopted western punctuation marks but overlooked Korean traditional punctuation marks.
Picture 11-12 (left to right): Examples of diversity of punctuation marks. Current Korean punctuation marks are as below.
Table 3: Korean punctuation marks
name	Contents	vertical writing
machimpyo	^^ onjeom( . ), ^wS muleumpyo(?),—^S neukimpyo (!)	koritjeom(„ )
Shwimpyo	^^ panjeom( , ), ^^^^ kaundetjeom( • ), ^^ sangieom( : ), ^^ pitkeum( / )	mojeom( ^ )
taompyo	keuntaompyo( " " ), ^^^^S chakeuntaompyo( ' ' ), ^S natpyo( T J )	^^S kyeopnatpyo (r J)
^wS mukkeumpyo	sogwalho( ( ) ), chunhgwalho({ }), tegwalho([ ])	
^wS ieumpyo	chulpyo(—), ^^S putimpyo (-), mulkyeolpyo(~)	
— ^^S deureonem pyo	— ^^S deureonempyo( ' , ° )3	
^—^^S andeure onempyo	^^S sumgimpyo( XX , O O ), ^^S pajimpyo( □ ), chulimpyo(......)	
The National Institute of The Korean Language constituted minimum punctuation marks that help writers communicate with readers. This shows the tendency of today's Korean academia that does not consider punctuation mark rules seriously.7 This is not just for the claims that punctuation marks are necessary for logical writings, but for the ideas regarding punctuation marks as a redundant feature when considering the characteristic of Korean to be pervasive.
Korean studies about punctuation marks, which mostly were one part of the Korean Language Policy, has so far focused on concept analysis supplement and punctuation mark imperfection. Concept of punctuation marks and their differences from general marks were studied by Lee (1996), Cha (1999), Sin (2009), Kim (2011), and specific functions of punctuation marks were suggested closely by Im et al. (2011), Lee (2012).
The different types of existing punctuation marks are not various as the previous figure shows. There are only two names, which are '— pyo 'and '— jeom', and their functions form unnecessary hierarchy. They show that there are dualistic names and
7 The koritjeom(°), appeared in vertical writing rule, had been used since the medieval time, the modern punctuation mark rule is directly influenced by modern punctuation marks of Japan and China.
functions. Unifying the punctuation mark rules without categorizing them hierarchically is one of the main arguments about the current rule of punctuation marks. However, Sin (2009) suggests to categorize them into two groups of 'reading-related marks' and 'writing-related marks' in order to make the system more efficient. According to the study, '— jeom' is associated with reading-related marks, and '— pyo' is writing-related. This argument seems to stem from the consideration of traditional punctuation marks, but the categorization makes it hard to embrace the function of interpretative aspect of traditional punctuation marks, which is the role they used to play.
2. Conclusion: Implications of Studying Punctuation Systems
Just like other conditions of literate life, punctuation marks also change as communication modes alter. The current Korean punctuation marks are the minimum marks utilized to assist reading. The reason why it is so has a strong relation to the unique features of Hangeul as a writing system, and it is also because people have put up with the degree of the agreement of speech and writing. However, the current phenomenon where various newly created marks are used in writing indicates that both readers and writers now want more than the normal marks. Nowadays, people expect more than literal meanings from letters and writings. This is why text messages are expected not to end with the conventional period (.) but instead with other signs, such as ^^ and ~,whereby additional information of the writer, for example, how they feel at that moment, is delivered. Advancement in technology has opened new ways to communicate. While these signs are classified as pseudo-language, they should be also discussed in view of punctuation marks, so long as they are employed in sentences and texts. Use of two different languages, Korean and Chinese, in the old days, necessitated the employments of the punctuation marks whose functions and kinds were different from modern-day punctuation marks. The development of 'KugyeoV can be measured in this vein, and this particular system proposes that punctuation system does not always play supplementary roles in sentences. Examining the history of punctuation systems is of much significance, as it helps to correct and expand the concepts of the current punctuation system.
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