old korean phonology question

[''']

I heard that Hangeul, while awesome, made more sense back when the sounds of korean were different, so does anyone have any resources on the sounds of korean back when hangeul was first devised? I'd be interested to see what it was like back then.

Also, why is korean written han-gug-'eo and not han-gu-geo?

EDIT: and how do you know when to pronounce vowels long or short?

[linguoboy]

I heard that Hangeul, while awesome, made more sense back when the sounds of korean were different, so does anyoen have an resources on the sounds of korean back when hangeul was first devised? I'd be interested ot see what it was like back then.

This article should be of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_Hangul.

Also, why is korean written han-gug-'eo and not han-gu-geo?

If you're going to write a language according to syllabic principles, then what do you do when these come into conflict with morpheme boundaries? You can either ignore these boundaries and write strictly according to phonetic principles or preserve the forms of the individual morphemes no matter what the phonetic shape of word is. Hangeul was originally written according to the first principle, but this was changed during the 1933 spelling reform.

EDIT: and how do you know when to pronounce vowels long or short?

If you're a young speaker of contemporary Seoul dialect, you don't make the distinction any more so its moot. If you maintain the distinction, then you memorise the vowel length in exactly the same way as English-speakers memorise stress placement.

[Karavinka]

A number of sounds were either lost or merged, such as ㅐ/ㅔ pair or ㅚ/ㅙ/ㅞ. While some (esp. older and dialectal) speakers may maintain the distinction, the mainstream has lost it. Hence, in a way, modern usage of Hangul became somewhat redundant as it maintains the graphic differences for the sounds that are not distinguished anymore. Think of these English words: marry, merry and Mary. While many speakers pronounce all three words alike, still some distinguish them.

[linguoboy]

A number of sounds were either lost or merged, such as ㅐ/ㅔ pair or ㅚ/ㅙ/ㅞ. While some (esp. older and dialectal) speakers may maintain the distinction, the mainstream has lost it.

At the time Hangeul was created, these digraphs represented true diphthongs. Their transition to monophthongs (and subsequent mergers in Seoul dialect) are a later development.

[''']

I thought ㅐ/ɛ/ and ㅔ /e/ were kept distinct today. Can I still say ㅚ as /ø/, ㅙ as /wɛ/, and ㅞ as /we/? and ㅟ as /y/?

So essencially, old korean had only the 6 basic vowels and a shitload of polyphthongs?

[YngNghymru]

Think of these English words: marry, merry and Mary. While many speakers pronounce all three words alike, still some distinguish them.

People really pronounce those three the same?

So most people make no vowel length distinction now... interesting. Not much point in memorising the vowel length differences, then.

[linguoboy]

I thought ㅐ/ɛ/ and ㅔ /e/ were kept distinct today.

This is still true in many places, but the merger is complete in Seoul colloquial (for which I blame an influx of southeasterners following the conclusion of hostilities). Because of the immense prestige of Seoul dialect, the merger continues to spread among younger speakers.

Can I still say ㅚ as /ø/, ㅙ as /wɛ/, and ㅞ as /we/? and ㅟ as /y/?

Knock yourself out.

So essencially, old korean had only the 6 basic vowels and a shitload of polyphthongs?

It's hard to say much about the phonology of Old Korean since we have no direct phonetic representations of it and all reconstructions must be viewed as particularly tentative given the absence of any proven relationships between Korean and other languages. Hangeul originated during the Middle Korean period and reflects either a six- or seven-vowel system, depending on which values one reconstructs. (Pulleyblank, for instance, considers ㅣ a representation of *ji--the outcome of a merger of earlier *ji and *jə--and reconstructs the six simple vowels as *i, *y, *u, *a, *ə, and *e.)

People really pronounce those three the same?

Depending on your definition of "people", yes. My dialect lacks the distinction, for instance. The only people I know personally who routinely distinguish Barry and berry, for instance, or Carrie and Kerry are New Yorkers.