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Homophones can be disambiguated in writing the same way they are disambiguated in speech, or they can just fall into disuse and be replaced.


This sounds easy in theory, but so far only one language has succeeded in completely getting rid of the Chinese characters: Vietnamese. This transition was imposed by the French colonial administration however, to more easily spread European-style civilization by breaking their connection to their native culture. A Vietnamese-speaker would have to tell whether there are any issues with homophones nowadays.

In Korea, Hanja are still actively used for disambiguation of homophones in complex texts. Public debate was divided for a long time, and even though Hanja are slowly being phased out, it is a slow process. It's hard to tell for sure, but even in North Korea the process seems incomplete.




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