『韓國漢字字典』의 국자 구조 양상 고찰

Abstract

This study is aimed at examining the patterns and characteristics in the combination of external and internal structures of Gukja (國字) font styles. Analysis was conducted on the Gukja words that have features unique to Korean in font styles, consonants, and characters from the words compiled in HanGuk-hanja-jajeon , published in December 2023 by the Academy of Asian Studies, Dankook University. First, a database for Gukja was made for analysis. The results are summarized as Gukja are mostly Hapcheja (a character made by combining radicals and other elements); in the external construction, about 68% of Gukja are “components laid side by side, or Left-Right construction,” while in the internal construction, about 84% of Gukja are “constructions of meaning and sound.” The findings of this study are that the constructional aspects of Gukja are similar to those of the Chinese versions. The analysis of the external construction of Gukja was conducted by use of the Ideographic Description Characters defined by Unicode Standard to visually represent external construction patterns of Chinese characters. For some Gukja constructions not representable by existing plane diagraphs, additional forms were created, such as: , , . These constructions are organized into 12 plane visual graphics: , ⿰, ⿱, ⿲, , ⿳, , ⿴, ⿵, ⿸, ⿹, ⿺. In conclusion, the character system of Gukja is clearly self-regulative. The Gukja show variance in the combination of character components, have no fixed traditional Chinese characters, and are in diversified variant forms. These characteristics are understood to signify that, as Gukja were made from the need to write out Korean words, practical usage was prioritized before the norms of characters. In making and using Gukja, our ancestors sought to psychologically “Chinesize” the characters. In the aesthetic sense, it was identified that, in the process of making Gukja, there was pursuit for the sense of balance and security of characters in a square form. Koreans of the past had clear understanding of the construction of Chinese and Korean characters. As a result, they enjoyed an enriched lingual life by either making Gukja or modifying them by adopting the Korean linguistic system to the Chinese character system as a base.