in 1592. The boundary between early and late periods is variously taken as the beginning of the Joseon period in 1392 or the promulgation of Hangul in 1446. The Joseon capital was only a short distance away in Hanyang (modern Seoul), so any language change would have been minimal, but the introduction of Hangul dramatically changed the documentation of the language.

Until the late 19th century, most formal writing in Korea, including government documents, scholarship and much