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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Hangukmal ∙ Joseonmal
(Hankuk-mal ∙ Chosŏn-mal)
Korean
Although
it is an alphabet, the Korean script
draws
from the ideographic
Chinese script with regard
to
letter arrangement and calligraphic
esthetics.
Each
of these three blocks contains three letters: s-ŏ-ŋ
h-u-i d-o-ŋ (or
Seong Hwidong in new
romanization).
Language information:
Korean is the first language of most ethnic Koreans, many of which live outside
Korea, such as in China (where they are an official ethnic minority), Japan,
Central Asia, North America, Australia, New Zealand, among many others.
In
1446, a Korean-specific script was developed under King Sejong the Great of
Joseon (1397–1450). This
is an alphabet in which sound symbols (jamo) are grouped in syllable portions.
Known as Hangul (Hangeul) in South Korea and as Chosŏn’gŭl (Choseon’geul) in North Korea, this script used
to be written mixed with Chinese characters. However, this practice has been
waning and has been officially discontinued altogether in North Korea.
Some linguists
consider Korean a language isolate while others consider it an Altaic language.
If it is not actually an Altaic language it, like Japanese, may be related
to the Altaic languages on a pre-Altaic level.
Korean
renderings of Chinese words provide valuable information about Chinese dialects
in earlier
times. For example, the Korean textbook Nogeoldae (Lăoqĭdà in Modern Mandarin) sought to teach Korean travelers of the 14th century Hàn’ér, a colloquial Dàdū (Bejing) Mandarin variety with some non-Chinese, mostly Altaic, influence. The
dialogues were written with Chinese characters accompanied by their pronunciation
in the Korean script. This has been a rich source of information about Old Mandarin
pronunciation.
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