Theory Building: A Synergistic Model for Hangul

As a culminating effort, this chapter builds the explanatory theoretical models of visual word processing in Hangul, which also serve as learning models. Each model shows hierarchically organized linguistic operations during reading. As reading is to decode the statistical patterns of letters, letter sequences, and letter positions embedded in a script, uncovering such constituent organizations is crucial for explaining reading processes and mechanisms behind reading for the science of reading. A model of syllable parsing is first presented, comparing the parsing unit in Korean and English in terms of the body-coda structure versus the onset-rime structure. A model of the roles and relations of orthography, phonology, and morphology is presented next, followed by a model of dual-pathway morphological processing in Hangul reading. Finally, an integrative, synergistic model of reading for Hangul is presented. All these models involve sequential and quasi-sequential orthography–phonology–morphology construal for reading, which is different from that for spelling. A model for spelling needs to be developed as empirical evidence accumulates in the interaction between the Korean language and the script.