Titolo della tesi: Writing and Reading Practices in Fifteenth-century Chosŏn Korea: Focusing on King Sejong’s Reign (1418-1450) and the Invention of the Korean Vernacular Script (Hunmin Chŏngŭm 訓民正音)
Fifteenth-century Chosŏn Korea was characterized by a complex and interconnected system of writing practices that included literary Sinitic (hanmun 漢文), vernacular transcription systems, foreign languages, and, since the middle of the century, a new vernacular script. This script was invented and promulgated during the reign of Sejong 世宗 (1418-1450) with the name of Hunmin Chŏngŭm 訓民正音 (the correct sounds for the instruction of the people). This allowed for the first time to transcribe the Korean language with ease and precision. The main focus of the present research is on the effects that the newly invented Korean vernacular script had on the writing and reading practices of the time.
The use of the new vernacular script certainly opened new possibilities for larger sectors of the society to express themselves through writing and for written texts to reach a larger part of the population. Existing scholarship, however, does not seem to have devoted much attention to how, at a practical level, this was made possible. What seems to be often implied is that illiterate people could finally write with the vernacular script and read texts written with it. The present study, however, suggests that this vision of the vernacular script as aimed to increase the level of literacy among the Korean population does not offer a complete understanding of the significance of its invention. Instead, it urges to consider how early Chosŏn texts were also intended to be read aloud, or even memorized, so that, in specific cases, they could be mediated for an audience of listeners. Thus, it analyses the production and actual use of the vernacular texts compiled during the reign of Sejong by devoting special attention to how their textual and linguistic features were linked to their reading and performance. By doing this, it argues that the vernacular script did not simply make possible an increase of literacy but, more importantly, unlocked new possibilities for the oral realization and mediation of texts.