Revised Romanization of Korean
| Revised Romanization of Korean | |
| Hangul | 국어의 로마자 표기법 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 國語의 로마字 表記法 |
| Lit. | Roman-letter notation of the national language |
| RR | Gugeoui romaja pyogibeop |
| MR | Kugŏŭi romacha p'yogipŏp |
Revised Romanization of Korean (RR; Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Proclamation No. 2000-8.[1][2]
Conversion process
[edit | edit source]The following steps are applied in order to construct an RR romanization from a Hangul string:[3]
- With some exceptions, swap out portions of the Hangul string to reflect standard pronunciation spellings. For example, swap out "종로" (jongro) with "종노" (jongno); the latter spelling is how the former is widely pronounced.
- Exceptions include the given names of people (keep "한복남", even though it's typically pronounced "한봉남") or between syllables that will receive hyphens in the romanization (keep "인왕리", despite common pronunciation "인왕니").
- For each syllable, in order from left to right, break the syllable down into jamo (letters). For each jamo (in order, within the syllable, of left to right, top to bottom), refer to either the consonant or vowel table below, depending on the role the jamo is serving. Some consonants are rendered differently depending on whether they are the initial or final character of a syllable; use the corresponding romanization.
- Some modifications may need to be made to the romanization. For example, a space should be inserted between family and given names, proper nouns should be capitalized, and hyphens should be inserted before administrative units (some of the administrative units and their hyphens can even be removed altogether, as they are optional). There are a number of scenarios where hyphens can optionally be inserted (see § Hyphenation), but optional hyphens are discouraged.[4][5][6]
| Hangul | ㄱ | ㄲ | ㄴ | ㄷ | ㄸ | ㄹ | ㅁ | ㅂ | ㅃ | ㅅ | ㅆ | ㅇ | ㅈ | ㅉ | ㅊ | ㅋ | ㅌ | ㅍ | ㅎ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanization | Initial | g | kk | n | d | tt | r | m | b | pp | s | ss | — | j | jj | ch | k | t | p | h |
| Final | k | k | t | — | l | p | — | t | t | ng | t | — | t | t | ||||||
ㄱ, ㄷ, Lua error: not enough memory. and Lua error: not enough memory. are transcribed as g, d, b and r when placed at the beginning of a word or coming before a vowel, and as k, t, p and l when followed by another consonant or when appearing at the end of a word.[3]
| Hangul | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. | ㅣ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanization | a | ae | ya | yae | eo | e | yeo | ye | o | wa | wae | oe | yo | u | wo | we | wi | yu | eu | ui | i |
Examples
[edit | edit source]- Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → annyeonghaseyo
- Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (swap with pronunciation Hangul) → Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → jongnogu → Jongno-gu (capitalize proper noun, insert hyphen before administrative unit particle)
- Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (person's name; do not swap with pronunciation Hangul Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.) → Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → hongbitna → Hong Bitna (insert space between family and given names and capitalize them)
Hyphenation
[edit | edit source]In RR, hyphens can be either optional or mandatory.
- Optional hyphens are used in two scenarios:
- Disambiguating pronunciation (e.g. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Hae-undae)
- Between syllables of a given name (e.g. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Hong Gil-dong)
- Mandatory hyphens are for separating an administrative unit (e.g. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Pyeongchang-gun)
Hyphens should not be inserted into the names of geographic features or artificial structures. For example, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Seoraksan and not Seorak-san.
The National Institute of Korean Language has stated that the use of optional hyphens should be discouraged.[4][5][6] One member wrote the following:
There are good reasons for why hyphens are not mandated even though there are scenarios where a romanization can be pronounced in two different ways. Firstly, hyphens are visually intrusive symbols. For Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., "Gangwon" is visually more comfortable [to read] than "Gang-won". [The fact of the matter] is that spellings and pronunciations do not exactly match. This is true for all languages. Even for Korean, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (horse) uses a short vowel, and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (speech; words) uses a long vowel, but we render them both in Hangul in the same way. In English, "lead" (as in "to lead") is pronounced Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., but "lead" (as in the element lead) is pronounced Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., but they're spelled identically. Romanization is no exception. We must abandon the idea that romanization must exactly show pronunciation. If someone pronounces "Gangwon" as "Gan-gwon" (Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.), then they should just be corrected as needed. Spelling does not perfectly show pronunciation and parts of pronunciation will need to be learned separately anyway. This is why even though we permit you to write Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. as "a-e", we recommend you write "ae" instead.[6][a]
Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
Linguistic characteristics
[edit | edit source]Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. The unaspirated consonants Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. are represented as ⟨g⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨b⟩, and ⟨j⟩ respectively. The aspirated consonants Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. are represented as ⟨k⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ch⟩. These letter pairs have a similar aspiration distinction in English at the beginning of a syllable (but unlike English do not have a voicing distinction); this approach is also used by Hanyu Pinyin.
When placed in the final position, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. are romanized as ⟨k⟩, ⟨t⟩, and ⟨p⟩ respectively, as they are neutralized to unreleased stops: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → byeok, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → bak, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → bueok; Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → byeoge, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → bakke, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → bueoke, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → ip, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → ibe.
Vowels Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. are written as ⟨eo⟩ and ⟨eu⟩ respectively. However, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. is written as ⟨wo⟩, not ⟨weo⟩; and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. is written as ⟨ui⟩, not ⟨eui⟩.
ㅅ in the syllable-initial position is always written as ⟨s⟩. When followed by another consonant or when in the final position, it is written as ⟨t⟩: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → ot (but Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → ose).
Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. is ⟨r⟩ before a vowel or a semivowel and ⟨l⟩ everywhere else: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → rieul, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Cheorwon, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Ulleungdo, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Balhae. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. is written ⟨l⟩ whenever pronounced as a lateral rather than as a nasal consonant: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Jeollabuk-do
Phonological changes are reflected where Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. are adjacent to Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → joko, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → nota, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → japyeo, 낳지 → nachi. However, aspirated sounds are not reflected in case of nouns where Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. follows Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1., Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.: Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Mukho, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → Jiphyeonjeon.[3]
In addition, special provisions are for regular phonological rules in exceptions to transcription (see Korean phonology).
Reversible variant
[edit | edit source]When reversibility (ability to reliably retrieve Hangul from romanized text) is desired, namely in academic articles, a variant of RR can be applied that allows for a letter-by-letter transcription. For example, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. would be rendered as doglib in the letter-by-letter transcription, whereas by its normal pronunciation spelling it would be dongnip.[3] In this case, hyphens can be used to denote a soundless syllable-initial Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (except at the beginning of a word).[7] For example, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. → eobs-eoss-seubnida.
Background
[edit | edit source]Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. The new system attempts to address perceived problems in the implementation of the McCune–Reischauer system, such as the phenomena where different consonants and vowels became indistinguishable in the absence of special symbols. To be specific, under the McCune–Reischauer system, the consonants Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (k), Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (t), Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (p) and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (ch) and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (k'), Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (t'), Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (p') and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (ch') became indistinguishable when the apostrophe was removed. In addition, the vowels Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (ŏ) and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (o), as well as Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (ŭ) and Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. (u), became indistinguishable when the breve was removed. Especially in early internet use, where omission of apostrophes and breves is common, this caused confusion.[8] To this end, the system has an explicit goal of using only the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet.[3][9]
The system was developed in anticipation of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was to be partly hosted in South Korea.[9]
Usage
[edit | edit source]In South Korea
[edit | edit source]
Almost all road signs, names of railway and subway stations on line maps and signs, etc. have been changed according to Revised Romanization of Korean. It is estimated to have cost at least 500 billion to 600 billion won (€500–600 million) to carry out this procedure.[10] All Korean textbooks, maps and signs to do with cultural heritage were required to comply with the new system by 28 February 2002.
Romanizations on South Korean passports
[edit | edit source]Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
A modified version of RR is recommended (but not strictly required) by the South Korean government for romanizations of people names on passports. One example of a modification is discouraging romanizations that resemble words with negative meanings in other languages. For example, Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1. is recommended to be romanized as SHIN and not the strict RR form SIN (spelled the same as sin, despite being pronounced differently).[11] The recommendations are not strictly required; ad-hoc romanizations are allowed, and have been increasingly permitted over time due to a number of court cases.[12]
Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
References
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- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ a b c d e Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ a b Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ a b Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ a b c Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ a b Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- ^ Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
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External links
[edit | edit source]Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.Lua error: Internal error: The interpreter exited with status 1.
- Romanization of Korean from the National Institute of Korean Language
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