An Overview of Chinese Phonosemantics Studies in Korea
The studies of Chinese Phonosemantics in Korea have developed progressively since the introduction of Chinese characters to the Korean Peninsula. Scholars throughout history have emphasized the documentation of Chinese character pronunciation and meaning in the compilation of rhyme books and dictionaries, utilizing Hangul annotations to distinguish between Chinese character pronunciations and Sino-Korean character pronunciations. Hwadongjeongeumtongseokunko (華東正音通釋韻考, Park Seong-won, 1747) serves as a representative work, with historical records such as Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty (朝鮮王朝實錄) and the preface of Saseong Tonghae (四聲通解) also containing relevant records. As of the end of 2024, the studies of Chinese Phonosemantics in Korea have more than ten related works and over a hundred academic papers, categorized into three main areas: (1) studies on phonosemantic books (approximately 65%), with a focus on the sound and meaning of Buddhist scriptures and Tripitaka Koreana (高麗大藏經) research, represented by the team of Lee Kyoo-Kap; (2) dictionary research (about 15%), identifying Sungyeong Eui’ui (順憬音義) as the earliest Korean dictionary and clarifying its literature type; (3) researches on the relationships between sounds and meanings (around 20%), including Kim Young-Chan’s argument for the independence of phonosemantics, and Yum Jae-Ung’s investigation of specific correspondence of sound and meaning. The studies of Chinese Phonosemantics in Korea exhibits distinctive local characteristics, and future directions include strengthening and expanding Chinese Phonosemantics in Korea as a discipline, incorporating computational linguistics to advance digitalization and corpus-based approaches, and contributing to the internationalization of Chinese Phonosemantics studies.