Punctuation signs (kudujŏm 句讀點) in 15th-century Chosŏn texts: origin, function, and significance

This paper analyses the practice of punctuation (kudujŏm 句讀點) in Korean texts from the first half of the 15th century. The texts analysed are the Samgang haengsil-to 三綱行實圖 (Illustrated Guide to the Three Relations, 1434), the Hunmin chŏngŭm 訓民正音 (Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People, 1446), and the Yongbi ŏch’ŏn ka 龍飛御天歌 (Songs of Flying Dragons, 1447). By examining their compilation and printing history, I point out that the appearance of punctuation signs in such early Choson texts was closely related to the intense cultural activity and linguistic researches fostered by King Sejong (r. 1418-1450) and revolving around the scholars of the Hall of Worthies (Chiphyŏnjŏn 集賢殿). Furthermore, the paper discusses the influence that specific Chinese texts as the Xingli daquan 性理大全 (Kr. Sŏngni taejŏn, “Great Compendium on Human Nature andPrinciple”), the Palace Treasury (neifu 內府) editions of Ming China and the Gujin yunhui juyao 古今韻會擧要 (Kr. Kogŭm unhoe kŏyo, “Abridged Collection of rhymes of the Ancient and Modern”) exerted on the adoption of this practice of punctuation in Korea. Finally, I conduct a more detailed linguistic analysis of the use of punctuation signs in the Hunmin chŏngŭm and the Yongbi ŏch’ŏn ka, highlighting their different syntactic, rhetorical, and rhythmical functions. By doing this, I stress their specific significance in the Korean context, arguing that their use was not a mere duplicate of the Chinese practice, nor can be understood through a comparison with the modern practice of punctuation, but that it was closely connected to the process of vernacular reading of hanmun (classical Chinese) texts and, in the specific case of the Yongbi ŏch’ŏn ka, to the performance of its vernacular verses.