Processing of the Orthographic, Phonological, and Morphological Properties in Hangul

This chapter reviews the processing of orthographic, phonological, and morphological information surrounding visual word recognition and reading in Hangul, as word identification or reading is based on the written forms of words in connection with sound patterns and how the graphic symbols are linked to morphological structures in a language. It begins with a discussion of script-universal and script-specific processing concerning the three components involved in reading, and then the focus is placed on word recognition and reading in Hangul. The discussion is based on previous empirical studies, reflecting on unique orthographic, phonological, and morphological characteristics represented in Hangul. When necessary, studies of English are reviewed for comparison purposes. Especially in morphological processing, Hanja proficiency seems to determine the locus of morphological processing in Hangul, resulting in two different pathways of morphological processing depending on readers’ Hanja proficiency. To address the dual pathways of morphological processing for Sino-Korean words, a modified pathway model is suggested.