漢字의 韓國 標準音에 대한 一考察 : 歪의 字音을 中心으로 With Special Reference to the Sounds of 歪 = A Study on the Korean Standard Sounds of Chinese Characters

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Over 60 percent of the Korean vocabulary are of classical Chinese origin. In Korean writing, those words can be written in two ways ― one is in Chinese characters and the other is in Koran scripts. However, both cases require urgently standardizing the sound of the characters which are the constituent elements of the word structure.
In pronouncing Chinese character, when the character has only one meaning, it should have one syllabic sound. However there are some dictionaries in which the character is prnounced in more than one syllabic sound and written in more than one Korean scripts in different way, even though they do have the same meaning. The character 歪 is one of such examples.
Currently the sound of 歪 is generally written in one of [wi](의), [wε](왜), and[∮](외) in some dictionaries ; however some other dictionaries list more than one sound.
The sound [wi](의) for 歪 was originated in Chi sog―yong's Chajon­―sogyo(字典續要, 1909), a dictionary of classical Chinese characters explained in Korean. Historically, the sound [wi](의) for 歪 had not included in Korean dictionaries and phonology until 1909. Apparently a mistake of the editor or errors in printing gave birth to the new pronunciation or spelling of 歪. Since Chajon―sogyo was a kind of new fashioned dictionary which was introduced at the beginning of the age of civilization, or opening of Korea to western countries, for the first time, the sound [wi](의) for 歪 became widespread. However, dictionaries which used [wi](의) for 歪, changed its sound or spelling to either[wε](왜) or[∮](외) in the revised new edition or new title version published after the middle of 1970.
The sound [oai])왜) for 歪 was found in the copy of Japanese Naikaku Libray(內閣本) of Hunmong―chahoe(訓蒙字會), a Korean vocabulary book for Chinese character, published in 1559, and in its various reprinted editions. But it is difficult to see the sound of [oai](왜) was a practical or real sound of the day in consideration of the transitional stage of the phonological structure of Korean words written in Chinese characters. At the time, since the rime(yun) of 歪 had been already changed to [―oi](ㅚ), being written as [―oai](왜) resulted from a hard try to keep its older form by conservatives. The sound of [oai](왜) was the former form of [oi](외), a popular sound in use at that time.
Near the 16th century, the sound of 歪 was changed to [oi](외). In the first edition(1527) of Hunmong―jahoe(訓蒙字會), 歪 was written as the character which had the rime of [―oi](ㅚ). This first edition(1527) was published when the editor of Hunmong―jahoe, Choe Se―jin, was alive, and the the copy of Naikaku Library was published after his death. It is generally acknowledged that he represented the sound of Chinese characters very practically in those days. Therefore, [oai](왜) is actually a restoration to the former sound of the changed sound [oi](외), even though it became a transcription for 歪 in various later editions of Hunmong―jahoe.
When the fan­qie(反切) for, the former form of 歪 which is recorded in Kuang―yun(廣韻, 1008) and Ji―yun(集韻) is transcribed into Korean sound it becomes [hoai](홰) or [ koai](괘); and when the the homophonous characters listed in the dictionaries published in the early 2nd century are transcribed into Korean sound, they become [koa](과). From the viewpoint of the phonological history, its former sound would be [hoat](�) or [koat] (��. By the way, the fan―qie of 歪 in Zi―hui(字彙, 1615) was written as 烏乖切. And it becomes [oi](외) in Korean sound.
Accordingly, it comes to a conclusion that the rime(yun) of 歪 has been changed into [―∮](ㅚ) through the phonological stages depicted in the following diagram.
? [―oat] → ㅘ[―oa]
↓ ↑ ↓
→
? [―oal] ↓ ↑
→ ㅙ[―oai]→ㅚ[―oi→∮]

By the way, in the early phonological transition of the initial consonant of 歪, both [h](ㅎ) and [k](ㄱ) had been used interchangeably, then changed to [zero](ㅇ) or soundless form consonant later as shown in the following diagram.
ㅎ[h]
↓↑
ㄱ[k]→,ㅇ[zero]
In modern dictionaries the sound [∮](←oi)(외) for 歪 was recorded in Choson Kwangmunhoe(朝鮮光文會)'s Shinjajon(新字典, 1915) for the first time. In North Korea, it has been used consistently in general. But in South Korea even though there are considerable number of dictionaries which follow the represented sound [∮](외), it is a reality that such dictionaries are less powerful than those which use the sound [wε](←oai)(왜). As mentioned above, the sound for 歪 has to be corrected as [∮](외). However, the present stuation is vice versa, because the sound [wε](왜) for 歪 is adopted in Keun―Sajon(1957), the biggest and most authoritative Korean standard dictionary, and because the "Code for Information Interchangeable, Hangeul and Chinese Characters"(KS C 5601, 1989) encoded the character following that sound.
However, it is hard to conclude that the decision of adoption of the sound has been made after sufficient discussion. Theref00ore, it is urged to establish a screening committee at government level or national dimension which screens and rectifies the standard sounds of problematic Chinese characters reasonably and fairly.