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The Korean alphabet, known natively as Hangul[a] in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl[b] in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language.[2][3][4] The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs used to pronounce them, and they are systematically modified to indicate phonetic features; similarly, the vowel letters are systematically modified for related sounds, making Hangul a featural writing system.[5][6][7] It has been described as a "syllabic alphabet", as it combines the features of alphabetic and syllabic writing systems, although it is not necessarily an abugida.[6][8] Hangul was created in 1443 CE by King Sejong the Great in an attempt to increase literacy by serving as a complement (or alternative) to the logographic Sino-Korean Hanja, which had been used by Koreans as its primary script to write the Korean language since as early as the Gojoseon period, along with the usage of Classical Chinese.[9][10] As a result, Hangul was initially denounced and disparaged by the Korean educated class; the script became known as eonmun ('vernacular writing', 언문, 諺文), and it only became the primary Korean script in the decades following Korea's independence from Japan in the mid-20th century.[11] Modern Hangul orthography uses 24 basic letters: 14 consonant letters[c] and 10 vowel letters.[d] There are also 27 complex letters formed by combining the basic letters: 5 tense consonant letters,[e] 11 complex consonant letters[f] and 11 complex vowel letters.[g] Four basic letters in the original alphabet are no longer used: 1 vowel letter[h] and 3 consonant letters.[i] The Korean letters are written in syllabic blocks with the alphabetic letters arranged in two dimensions. For example, Hangeul in Korean is written as 한글 (han gul), not ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ (h a n g u l). These syllables begin with a consonant letter, then a vowel letter, and then potentially another consonant letter called a batchim (Korean: 받침). If the syllable begins with a vowel sound, then the consonant ㅇ (ng) will act as a silent placeholder. However, when ㅇ starts a sentence or is placed after a long pause, it makes the glottal stop sound. Syllables may begin with basic or tense consonants, but not complex ones. The vowel can be basic or complex, while the second consonant can be basic, complex or a limited number of tense consonants. The way the syllable is structured depends if baseline of the vowel symbol is horizontal or vertical; if the baseline is vertical, the first consonant and vowel are written above the second consonant (if present,) whereas all of the components are written individually top to bottom in the case of a horizontal baseline.[12] As in traditional Chinese and Japanese writing, as well as many other texts in East Asia, Korean texts were traditionally written top to bottom, right to left – and are occasionally still written this way for stylistic purposes. Today, it is typically written from left to right with spaces between words serving as a divider (unlike Japanese and Chinese).[7] It is the official writing system throughout Korea, both North and South. It is a co-official writing system in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County in Jilin Province, China. Official names Korean name (North Korea) Chosŏn'gŭl 조선글 Hancha 朝鮮㐎 Revised Romanization Joseon(-)geul McCune–Reischauer Chosŏn'gŭl IPA Korean pronunciation: [tso.sɔn.ɡɯl] Korean name (South Korea) Hangul 한글 Hanja 韓㐎 Revised Romanization Han(-)geul McCune–Reischauer Han'gŭl[13] IPA Korean pronunciation: [ha(ː)n.ɡɯl] The word "Hangul", written in the Korean alphabet The Korean alphabet was originally named Hunminjeong'eum (훈민정음) by King Sejong the Great in 1443.[10] Hunminjeong'eum (훈민정음) is also the document that explained logic and science behind the script in 1446. The name hangeul (한글) was coined by Korean linguist Ju Si-gyeong in 1912. The name combines the ancient Korean word han (한), meaning great, and geul (글), meaning script. The word han is used to refer to Korea in general, so the name also means Korean script.[14] It has been romanized in multiple ways: Hangeul or han-geul in the Revised Romanization of Korean, which the South Korean government uses in English publications and encourages for all purposes. Han'gŭl in the McCune–Reischauer system, is often capitalized and rendered without the diacritics when used as an English word, Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries. hān kul in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies. North Koreans call the alphabet Chosŏn'gŭl (조선글), after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea.[15] A variant of the McCune–Reischauer system is used there for romanization.