문자의 도상성 관점에서 바라본 이집트 상형문자와 한글의 특성

초록

This study examines the characteristics of Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hangul from the perspective of the iconicity of letters. Various perspectives on the iconicity of letters were reviewed, and the origin, characteristics, and development process of Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hangul were examined. Through this consideration, this study systematically describes the coexistence of differences and similarities between the two in many ways. Every individual language has iconicity and arbitrariness. There are no exceptions to letters in that regard, but the origins and development of Korean and Roman alphabets are similar. However, while most characters, including the Roman alphabet, started from iconicity imitating natural objects, Hangul is different in that it was devised based on pronunciation organs. There is “motivation” in the process of relaxation from iconicity to arbitrariness. From the perspective of Hangul, it can be seen that the basic characters were created by pictographing the pronunciation organs, and the characters were expanded (ㄱ-ㅋ-ㄲ) by adding phonemic characteristics to them. As such, the characters of both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hangul have similarities in many aspects, but if you look at their development process, you can see that different points coexist. The difference between their characters could be described as follows. First, there is no clear record of the time or origin of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and it can only be inferred from the research of later scholars. Contrarily, Hangul is probably the only letter in the history of the world"s letters where we know its creator, the time of creation, and the method of creation. Second, Egyptian hieroglyphics have immensely influenced many characters of many languages, but they are extinct in the present era, unlike those of Hangul. Third, even in the systematic characteristics of language, Egyptian hieroglyphics have the characteristics of hieroglyphics, ideograms, and word characters, while Hangul has the characteristics of phonograms and phonemes. The universality between the characters of the two described in this study is as follows. First, both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Korean characters were based on the principle of hieroglyphics. Second, the principle of combination was systematically explained in the formation process of both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hangul. This study is meaningful in that it comparatively analyzes the differences between the characters of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Hangul that have not been attempted so far, and systematically describes the universality of characters" iconicity.

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